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“In 2009, the economic fundamentals remained weak, but in the first half of the year, more attention should be paid to investment opportunities in capital-protecting structured financial products. ”Leung Da Wei, Head of Investment at Standard Chartered Bank (China), suggested at the bank’s first-quarter global market outlook meeting that investors should continue to adopt a conservative investment strategy in the first half of the year, focusing on cash flows and investment portfolios designed to preserve capital. The value of principal-protected structured products becomes evident. During the financial crisis, deposit interest rates kept falling, which led to a significant decline in the returns on conservative investment products offered by commercial banks. Currently, the annualized return on fixed-income products is around 3%, and investors are gradually losing interest in such products. Liang Dawei believes that in an environment characterized by \"low interest rates, low growth, and low inflation,\" if one aims to achieve a balance between returns and risks, it is more appropriate to invest in principal-protected structured financial products. Such products possess the characteristics of both fixed-income securities and derivatives, enabling high returns while ensuring the safety of the principal. According to reporters’ observations, in a weak market environment where investment styles are generally shifting toward conservatism, promoting principal-protected structured financial products has become a strategy adopted by many foreign banks. Such as ABN AMRO’s “Automated Asset Allocation Mechanism” series, which automatically allocates assets between defensive assets and aggressive assets with high growth potential ； EBank’s \"Profit Treasure\", linked to stocks of Chinese-funded companies listed in Hong Kong ； There are also Citi Bank’s \"Win in Both Rising and Falling Markets\" financial products, among others. The 16th EDB \"Yi Li Bao\" RMB investment product available for purchase this month has an investment period of 1.5 years; it offers principal-protected investing with 24/7 market exposure, and is linked to the China Recovery Index as well as three global recession indices. In addition to providing a 100% principal protection upon maturity, the investment returns depend on the relative performance of the best-performing index among those mentioned above, with the performance of each index being determined by the average performance of the stocks included in that index. According to WIND data, since December last year, the structural products issued by the market have mainly been principal-protected types, with expected yields that are much more attractive than those of bonds, bills, and credit-based financial products. Liang Dawei pointed out that market volatility is likely to be high this year, so it is advisable to diversify risks. In terms of asset allocation, structural products linked to interest rates, foreign exchange, stock markets, etc., should aim to preserve capital; products that do not guarantee capital preservation are still not reliable enough. In the first half of this year, fixed-income products such as cash and bonds should account for a large proportion in personal asset allocation ； There may be many investment opportunities in the stock market in the second half of the year; at that time, it is possible to increase holdings of equity assets and allocate to some relatively aggressive investment portfolios. Commodity currencies may see a rebound in the second half of the year. Regarding the future trend of the dollar, which is subject to much debate, Leung Dai-wai said that the dollar, similar to the yen, will benefit from deleveraging and the return of liquidity, and thus it is expected to remain strong in the near term ； However, once deleveraging is completed, the money printing resulting from huge fiscal deficits, coupled with the fact that the underlying economic conditions in the United States are unlikely to improve fundamentally as well as the trade deficit, will cause the dollar to weaken in the medium to long term. “The opportunity in the forex market lies in the recovery of commodity currencies such as the Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, and Canadian dollar in the second half of the year, predicts Leung Da Wei. As emerging markets and others emerge from recession in the second half of the year, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, as countries that export raw materials, are expected to see a significant strengthening in their currencies. The euro will continue to face pressure from economic imbalances in the short term, with the economy falling into recession ； The RMB is expected to experience a brief pullback in the first quarter, after which it will remain relatively stable. In terms of investment strategy, it is recommended that investors first diversify their currency investments and continue holding their dollar positions until the dollar weakens. For currencies that have already seen significant declines, such as the Australian dollar, while further drops are still possible, their current exchange rates are already below their long-term reasonable levels; it may be advisable to consider buying them in modest quantities taking advantage of the low exchange rates. Gold could exceed $1,000 in the first half of the year. The strong performance of gold recently has drawn considerable attention; Liang Dawei believes that the future of gold will depend mainly on whether there is sufficient demand to absorb a portion of the excess supply in order to maintain stable prices, or whether there will be significant pressures leading to price increases or decreases. “The divide between retail investors and ‘other’ investment funds in the market is quite evident. ”Liang Dawei believes that the withdrawal of \"other\" investors is mainly driven by deleveraging and a strong US dollar, and the liquidation of investment portfolios far exceeds the funds flowing into safe-haven assets. At the same time, more retail investors continue to show interest in gold as a safe-haven asset. Given the continued strength of the US dollar in recent times and the disappearance of inflation risks, gold prices are likely to regain their momentum for growth. As the surplus in the physical market decreases, the scale of gold trading will continue to grow. Once the dollar starts to weaken, the potential investment demand for gold will increase, attracting more net inflows of capital and helping push gold prices back up to $1,000 per ounce. Haixin Steel Information Network (http://www.hxsteel.cn)