GLOBAL EQUITY STRATGEY: We d/g Japan to benchmark because: i) BoJ policy is increasingly unclear at a time when CPI inflation ex food and energy is -0.1%; ii) the case for yen weakness has diminished; iii) Prime Minister Abe's loss of popularity threatens a tighter fiscal policy and loss of reform momentum; iv) buybacks are tracking lower than 2016, while Japan is the most leveraged region to global PMIs, which are peaking. We also reduce the size of our U/W in US equities ex tech: The US is the clear beneficiary of a weaker dollar and US performance has mirrored PMIs, while it has high exposure to growth and tech stocks. Our largest overweight remains GEM equities.