A rerun of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis? HSBC's chief economist sees significant similarities

Traders of the Argentine stock exchange watch trading figures 27 October as prices fall during an international crisis which began in the Hong Kong stocks. Argentine stocks fell 13.73 percent, the worst in six years. AFP PHOTO/Daniel LUNA (Photo by DANIEL LUNA / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LUNA/AFP via Getty Images) Daniel Luna | Afp | Getty ImagesThe 1997 Asian financial crisis culminated in recessions in economies throughout the region, amid market turmoil characterized by currency collapse, capital flight and banking failures. Now, Asia's financial environment bears some striking similarities to the period immediately before the crisis, according to HSBC's chief economist Frederick Neumann.Surging U.S. bond yields, a weak Japanese yen and tech optimism dominated the financial environment in the lead-up to the crisis, Neumann wrote in an Aug. 31 note.What does Neumann think is similar?Neumann highlighted elevated U.S. Treasury yields as a key similarity with the period before the 1997 crisis. U.S. Benchmark 10-year bonds, for example, climbed from 5% in October 1993 to around 8% in November 1994. Even in April 1997, yields were at about 7%, some 200 basis points above where they had be...