In a recent podcast, Aidan Farrell, Director of Global Small Cap Equities at Eaton Vance discusses investment opportunities presented by the global small-cap sector for Australian investors. He highlights: The MSCI World Small Cap Index captures small cap representation across 23 Developed Markets countries. With 4,203 constituents, the index covers approximately 14% of the free…
The investment grade (IG) REIT sector is certainly one of the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the June quarter, only 77% of revenues (rent etc.) were collected, with the retail sector collecting just 58% of contracted revenues. Net tangible asset values (NTAs) across the market declined 5.2%, driven lower predominantly by devaluations in…
A major milestone for Pfizer On 9 November 2020, Pfizer announced that its vaccine candidate, developed in collaboration with BioNTech, was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis. After discussion with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer…
By now, people know what impact investing is and according to RIAA, impact assets under management in Australia have grown to about $19B at the start of 2020; up 250% in the past 24 months. Those are decent numbers, but there’s every indication we’ve barely scratched the surface of impact investing’s potential. The growth is…
This is an edited version of the full article, which is available here. The article pre-dated the US Election. Â Executive summary Societies and governments around the world are looking at a COVID-19 vaccine as the panacea that will enable the world to recover, reconnect and regain our way of life. Since the genetic code…
Executive summary Societies and governments around the world are looking at a COVID-19 vaccine as the panacea that will enable the world to recover, reconnect and regain our way of life. Since the genetic code for COVID-19 was unlocked, researchers have set out in an unprecedented and coordinated effort to make a vaccine available on…
Gold has an almost mythical quality to it but assessing its true investment value doesn’t need to be shrouded in mystery. Some investors may still shy away from an asset viewed as difficult to accurately price or predict, but perhaps they are focused on the wrong metrics. Understanding the true value of gold is more…
Given the Retirement Income Panel’s work over the past year, super funds need no more motivation to answer the critical question: how can funds deliver an adequate pension to retired fund members? The question, however, can’t be answered without determining what an ‘adequate’ pension is. This ResearchBite considers how a hypothetical fund creating an income-targeted…
Aussie fund manager gives Budget an ‘F’ for FAIL The head of the Australian wealth and superannuation manager Nucleus Wealth, Damien Klassen, has drawn a pointed analysis of the Morrison/Frydenberg budget strategy. “The budget misses the mark big time by focusing on the supply side of the economic equation when in fact the biggest issue…
“Sustainable” is a trendy word nowadays. It is thrown around in marketing campaigns like a decorative pillow, which looks good, but most of the time feels flat. Companies and brands claim their products are ‘sustainable’ for the buzz and the hype, playing on our generation’s environmental consciousness and demand for products and services that won’t…