Trying to figure out if this bear market is about to end or not is proving rather difficult. There are signs that inflation has topped out and that Emerging Markets are leading disinflation. Odds are good that we will likely see a few more interest rate hikes, although not as aggressive as before, to give us the ‘higher for longer’ regime that has so clearly been communicated by central banks. On one side we think that the slowing easing inflation is a product of higher interest rates and global economies slowly grinding deeper into recession, while on the other side China is waking up and there can be no doubt that this is hugely positive for Emerging Markets and commodities prices in general. Will that reignite inflation, or will that merely push Emerging Markets to outperform Developed Markets as they capitalise on China waking up? Time will tell if this is truly the turning point or not, but odds are good that we are in for a strong short-squeezy kind of week.