DBS Bank's Chief Investment Office has released the investment outlook for the first quarter of 2024, stating that the first quarter of 2024 will provide a more favorable environment for risk assets. With the slow impact of deflation and the Federal Reserve pausing its monetary tightening policies, US interest rates are expected to peak. While the "soft landing" of the US economy remains the bank's benchmark forecast, significant volatility is expected for risk assets. Additionally, the bank has raised its allocation to US stocks to "overweight" in order to reflect the profit potential of US stocks, driven mainly by the strong performance of the technology-related industries. Since the Federal Reserve began tightening its policies, interest rates have been raised by 525 basis points over the past 16 months, posing challenges for stocks and bonds over the past year. Despite this, the bank's barbell strategy (holding a large amount of income-generating bonds on one end and long-term growth stocks on the other) recorded a return of 10.7% as of December 1, 2023. DBS Group's Chief Investment Officer, Hou Weifu, stated that the negative return rate gap has highlighted the attractiveness of bonds compared to stocks. Due to weak demand affecting income and profit margins, corporate profitability is under pressure, and the stock market may face further challenges. Hou Weifu pointed out that as the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank begin to cut interest rates due to slowing economic growth and inflation, there is limited room for rate cuts in Asia as economic growth stabilizes. With the slowdown in the Japanese economy and stagnation in the eurozone, US economic growth has softened to 1.2%. He believes that exports of electronic products will be the main driver of economic growth in Asia. Furthermore, he noted that due to geopolitical risks and high interest rates by the Federal Reserve, the bank has given a "overweight" rating to gold for the next 12 months. In addition, weak global economic growth is putting pressure on demand for commodities, with oil prices facing downward risks.