J.P. Morgan data show net rating upgrades for Asian investment grade (IG) and high yield (HY) corporates (by debt amount) turning positive from March, reaching roughly US$19bn by September 2026. The improvement reflects firm corporate fundamentals: steady earnings growth, resilient macro conditions, limited default activity and disciplined primary supply. Meanwhile notwithstanding the equity shock triggered by MSCI consultation for potential reclassification of Indonesia from emerging markets to standalone status,  reaction to its bond market has been much calmer with yields recovering soon after initial selloff.

For Asian bond allocators, the next test of this trend would be the market receptiveness to step-up in borrowing by China's IG technology leaders amid concerns for massive AI debts in the US. Tencent raised about US$5.7bn last week across US$1.8bn of dollar notes and RMB26bn (US$3.9bn) of offshore yuan bonds, with the 10-year dim sum tranche priced at 2.40% against over 6% on the dollar notes. It was its second offshore deal this year after a US$4.7bn transaction in June, with proceeds reportedly directed largely at AI-related capex. Rating agencies have yet to react, but bond investors already have: despite global unease over AI monetisation and a semiconductor selloff, order books topped US$23bn, more than four times the deal size.

Large debt raises would normally add leverage and weigh on ratings, but three factors suggest the risk is contained. Tencent's deals sit comfortably within its balance-sheet capacity even with capex expected to exceed RMB200bn (US$30bn) a year through 2027. Chinese big tech is also tapping equity and cheap offshore RMB rather than dollar debt alone and in a much more moderate scale compared to global peers: Alibaba raised HK$80bn (US$10.2bn) through a Hong Kong share placement in August, and the coupon gap Tencent secured has Meituan now considering a dim sum sale of its own.

As for Premia J.P. Morgan Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond ETF (3411 HK) which covers a diversified basket of IG issues, the exposure is small relative to the asset class: in the corporates make up around 56% of the ETF but TMT less than 7%, leaving holders exposed to the broader upgrade corporate credit upgrade cycle with limited exposure to Chinese big tech issuance.

Year-to-date Premia J.P. Morgan Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond ETF (Premia Asia IG ETF) has outperformed longer duration peers. Even as US Treasuries yield widened to their highest yields in over two decades, the Asia IG ETF has proven relatively resilient. Across assets classes, some investors now see US Treasuries as better value than US equities and started rotating from US risk asset to duration – yet Asia IG still offers a yield pickup over US Treasury - making it even more attractive. Asian credit spreads widened modestly in recent weeks on concern about Indonesia and Philippines, and have begun to retrace as those worries ease. In our view, the current spread level offers a better window to add to Asia investment grade (IG) credit.

Indonesia has been viewed as the region's main fiscal pressure point, with concerns over state spending and the credibility of the 3% of GDP deficit cap weighing on Asian spreads more broadly. The government has since begun to rein in expenditure. While the announced measures look modest, but markets read them as a sign of discipline : Indonesia's 5-year CDS has eased from a recent high of ~96bps to ~91bps as of 12 October, pointing to stabilisation.

Meanwhile, despite the near-term pull back in the US 10-year yield, large US deficits point to heavier issuance, so holding long duration outright carries meaningful risk. Shorter-duration IG credit offers a better balance. The Premia J.P. Morgan Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond ETF (3411/9411 HK) offers a ~4.3-year duration and a ~5.5% average yield to maturity, with an average A rating and around 10% in floating-rate notes. That lets investors earn carry and stay invested with moderate rate exposure. In a market still arguing over where yields settle, The Premia Asia IG ETF offers a way to be paid while the debate plays out — a better balance between rate bets and carry, and a more sensible place to “keep calm and carry on”.

Following the release of the 15th Five-Year Plan outline in March, detailed sector-specific roadmaps are now emerging, placing “new quality productive forces” squarely at the center of China’s long-term growth engine. At the forefront is a strategic push for "full-chain breakthroughs in integrated circuits" and accelerated domestic replacement. This is supported by massive, coordinated infrastructure commitments: Shanghai and Beijing are aggressively targeting 100,000-card intelligent computing clusters, and the MIIT is mandating the adoption of domestic computing chips. Beyond semiconductors, the 15th Five-Year Plan is sparking a major repricing in Chinese healthcare. Citigroup recently highlighted the plan's core ambition: shifting China from scale-driven manufacturing to global, innovation-driven leadership by 2030, with specific support for AI drug discovery, gene editing, and high-end medical devices. Advances in the domestic AI industry will help the biotech sector achieve critical breakthroughs, which in turn will increase demand for AI infrastructure, creating a powerful positive feedback loop. While the long-term outlook for these strategic sectors is exceptionally bright, the sheer scale of the transition means focusing solely on individual stocks can yield suboptimal risk-adjusted returns. Under these circumstances, utilizing a broad-based ETF to form the core of an investment portfolio—supplemented by individual high-conviction themes—offers a more sustainable approach. Our Premia China STAR50 ETF provides direct, concentrated exposure to the semiconductor and hard-tech leaders building this national AI and space infrastructure. For broader, diversified access across China's entire innovation ecosystem—capturing the synergies between intelligent computing and the booming healthcare sector—consider the Premia China New Economy ETF.

China property USD bonds have extended gains through the third quarter, with the Premia China USD Property Bond ETF (3001/9001 HK) up more than 20% year to date. On 28 August, Beijing announced the most significant overhaul of China's housing sales and financing framework in three decades. It works through four channels:

• Sales milestones reset. MOHURD, MNR and NFRA now require a building to be structurally topped out before presales can begin, with 100% of purchase funds — down payments and mortgage proceeds — held in supervised escrow until completion and delivery.
• Lead-bank oversight. Designated banks supervise project financing, escrow and construction progress end to end, and a homebuyer's mortgage is now issued only after the project is completed.
• Longer mortgage tenors. The PBOC lifted the maximum personal mortgage tenor from 30 to 40 years.
• Wider capital-market access. The CSRC broadened refinancing and M&A channels, alongside expanded REIT, CMBS and ABS support for income-producing assets.

While the near-term read is negative for developers - replacing presale proceeds with borrowing implies higher leverage and more secured debt, which can subordinate existing senior claims - that argues for selection rather than avoidance. The Premia China USD Property Bond ETF (3001 / 9001 HK) holds secured and senior unsecured paper only, and excludes subordinated debt and LGFVs, favouring issuers with recurring rental income and the securitisation access the CSRC has just widened. Over the medium to long term, the reform should reduce the risk of another property-sector shock. Delivery risk moves off household prepayments and into bank-supervised project finance, lowering the odds of a repeat of the unfinished-project stress that drove the last default wave, while tighter new-home supply supports the clearing of existing inventory. Meanwhile, banks are being capitalised to carry that risk: Beijing announced a further RMB360bn (US$54bn) injection into eight state financial institutions on 6 September, of which RMB290bn (US$43.2bn) went to lenders. Brokers expect developer equities to stay soft unless policy surprises or sales data improve. Bonds answer a different question: not whether growth returns, but whether issuers keep paying. The ETF yields around 12.9% (as of Sep 8, 2026), well above the broader Asia high yield market - the extra income investors are paid for the risk that some issuers still restructure or default while the transition plays out.

The macroeconomic landscape is shifting rapidly, driving a brutal global bond selloff that has pushed yields to nearly two-decade highs. Rising oil prices and firmer-than-expected July PCE data—featuring a rebound in core goods that points to underlying inflation of around 3%—are reigniting inflation concerns. This has triggered a retreat across sovereign debt markets, from Japan and Australia to US Treasuries, where the 10-year yield recently hit its highest level since January of last year. Against this backdrop, monetary policy is becoming a source of volatility rather than clarity. While Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish message at Jackson Hole hinting at potential rate hikes, bond investors remain deeply skeptical. Given Warsh’s history of mixed signals, markets are actively hedging against the risk that the Fed ultimately keeps rates steady. Compounding this policy uncertainty is a resurgence in equity turbulence driven by protectionist trade measures, including impending semiconductor tariffs and bans on foreign energy grid equipment. This volatile combination of unpredictable central bank action, equity turbulence, and a severe selloff at the long end of the yield curve makes the stability of Floating Rate Notes (FRNs) exceptionally appealing. FRNs structurally insulate portfolios from the duration risk currently punishing traditional bonds, while retaining the flexibility to capture higher yields if the Fed does hike. Even if rates simply remain steady, FRNs provide a reliable, premium income stream. For efficient, liquid access to this defensive strategy, the Premia US Treasury Floating ETF (available in Distributing and Accumulating Unit Classes) offers a targeted solution to navigate today's complex market dynamics.

Taiwan equities have almost fully recovered from July’s sharp selloff and are on track to challenge new highs as the global AI trade regains momentum. Foreign investors turned net buyers during the first 10 trading days of August, accumulating USD1.7bn, reflecting renewed confidence in Taiwan’s technology-led growth outlook. With the market’s leading technology companies continuing to deliver strong earnings and benefiting from sustained AI investment, Taiwan remains well positioned to participate in the next leg of the global AI upcycle. TSMC reported a 45% year-on-year increase in monthly sales, underscoring resilient AI hardware demand despite market volatility. The global chipmaking leader also raised its full-year capital spending and revenue projections, reflecting confidence that robust demand for AI chips will extend into 2027 and beyond. MediaTek’s 2026 outlook has strengthened following robust 2Q results, with structural growth drivers broadening from premiumization to diversification. A richer high-end smartphone mix and growing demand for custom AI silicon could help reaccelerate sales growth in 2027–28. Delta Electronics reported a 47.7% jump in July sales, driven by rising demand for server-related power-supply products. Increasing AI server power consumption, higher efficiency requirements and the shift toward higher-density racks should sustain demand for advanced power solutions, raising Delta’s content per rack and improving revenue quality. ASE Technology also reported 43.2% growth in July revenue, supported by rapid expansion in advanced chip packaging. Its Fan-Out Chip-on-Substrate technology, which connects chips without requiring a large silicon interposer, offers an attractive performance-to-cost proposition versus TSMC’s interposer-based CoWoS. For investors seeking broad exposure to Taiwan’s technology supply chain, the Premia FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 ETF offers a useful vehicle. Its underlying index provides diversified exposure to Taiwan’s 50 largest companies and has outperformed major Taiwan equity benchmarks year-to-date, offering investors a broad-based way to participate in the continued expansion of the AI ecosystem.

China A-share market has become increasingly polarized, as earnings momentum and growth expectations drove investor flows. While the Information Technology sector has surged 31.9% year-to-date, Consumer Staples have declined 13.8%, illustrating a clear market preference for growth-oriented industries over traditional defensives. The strength of the technology sector is often attributed to the global enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence and semiconductor demand, alongside Beijing’s continued support for domestic innovation and import substitution in critical technologies. However, the rally is far from being purely sentiment driven. Corporate fundamentals have provided substantial support. In the first quarter of 2026, Information Technology companies delivered earnings growth of 68.0% year-on-year, second only to Materials at 74.8%. In contrast, Consumer Staples reported a 15.4% earnings decline, reflecting weaker operating momentum. The earnings divergence has also been reinforced by analyst revisions, with full-year profit estimates for Information Technology revised upward by 7.4%, while Consumer Staples experienced a sharp 19.3% downgrade. Looking ahead, earnings growth is expected to remain concentrated in a handful of high-growth sectors. Consensus forecasts point to full-year 2026 earnings growth of 72.0% for Materials, 70.6% for Information Technology, 33.7% for Industrials, and 30.8% for Healthcare, while Utilities, Financials and Consumer Staples are expected to lag. For investors seeking exposure to China’s structural growth themes, the Premia China STAR50 ETF and Premia China New Economy ETF offer targeted access to innovative and high-growth segments of the market, both of which have outperformed the broader A-share market year-to-date.

China government bonds have quietly emerged as one of the strongest-performing major sovereign bond markets year-to-date, standing in sharp contrast to the losses seen across most developed and emerging market fixed-income assets. While elevated crude oil prices and geopolitical tensions have reignited global inflation concerns, bond markets in the US, Europe, Japan, and several emerging economies have come under pressure as investors increasingly price in the risk of further policy tightening. US Treasury yields, in particular, have risen sharply amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve may need to resume rate hikes by the end of this year, with other central banks potentially following suit to contain inflationary pressures. China, however, presents a very different macro and policy backdrop. While expectations for near-term rate cuts by the People’s Bank of China have faded alongside improving domestic growth, policymakers are likewise not expected to move toward tightening. The PBOC continues to maintain a supportive and “moderately loose” policy stance, while China’s inflation pressures remain relatively contained. This divergence has reinforced the defensive characteristics of China government and policy bank bonds, which continue to provide stability and steady returns while many global bond markets face ongoing capital loss risks. For institutional investors seeking duration exposure with lower inflation sensitivity and reduced tightening risk, the Premia China Treasury and Policy Bank Bond Long Duration ETF offers efficient access to one of the few major sovereign bond markets still benefiting from a supportive monetary environment.

Taiwan’s economy continues to demonstrate exceptional strength, supported by its increasingly indispensable role in the global AI supply chain. First-quarter GDP expanded 13.69% year-on-year, marking the fastest pace of growth since 1987. The upside surprise was driven primarily by robust external demand, as exports surged on the back of accelerating global investment in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, and high-performance computing. Electronic components and ICT products accounted for nearly 80% of total outbound shipments, reinforcing Taiwan’s position at the center of next-generation technology manufacturing. The strength of the export cycle is also translating into broader domestic economic momentum. Technology companies continue to expand capacity and increase R&D spending to capture long-term AI opportunities, supporting manufacturing activity and capital formation. Meanwhile, buoyant equity market turnover and increased participation in investment products have provided an additional tailwind for Taiwan’s financial sector. With global AI capital expenditure expected to maintain a strong multi-year growth trajectory through the end of the decade, Taiwan remains structurally well-positioned to benefit from rising demand across the semiconductor and advanced electronics ecosystem. Against this backdrop, Taiwan equities should continue to enjoy strong medium-term earnings support and investor interest. For investors seeking efficient exposure to Taiwan’s leading technology champions, including TSMC, MediaTek, Delta Electronics, and ASE Technology, the Premia FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 ETF offers a focused and liquid vehicle to access Taiwan’s AI-driven growth story.

Chinese new economy stocks, led by battery and semiconductor names, have reclaimed the outperformance against the broader market year-to-date, shrugging off ongoing US-Iran geopolitical noise. This resilience is underpinned by a combination of macroeconomic reflation, structural policy support, and accelerated technological self-reliance. On the macro front, China has officially exited factory deflation after more than three years. This is a critical inflection point: Goldman Sachs research shows that equities perform best when growth stabilizes alongside steadily rising inflation, with a concurrent PPI rate in the 0-4% range generating the highest historical returns across 1- to 12-month horizons. This reflationary tailwind is being amplified by targeted sector developments. In the battery and renewable space, the government summoned 16 leading manufacturers to restrict unchecked capacity expansion and curb price wars. Furthermore, the NDR’s new Order No. 41 raises thresholds for energy storage stations. Together, these moves force the industry to transition from “scale expansion” to “high-quality development”, directly benefiting top-tier power equipment and ESS producers. Simultaneously, the push for semiconductor self-reliance is accelerating. Reports indicate that DeepSeek’s highly anticipated V4 model will run on Huawei AI chips instead of Nvidia GPUs–a massive endorsement of domestic AI infrastructure that sparked a rally in local names like Cambricon. Should this reflationary momentum continue, new economy stocks are positioned to widen their outperformance gap. Investors forced on upstream hardware can capture this through our Premia China STAR50 ETF. For a broader play on this innovative growth story–spanning semiconductors, AI, EVs, and biotech–our Premia CSI Caixin China New Economy ETF offers an optimal, diversified approach.