Today’s investors are “riding for a fall,” according to Oaktree Capital founder Howard Marks. Markets could well be in for a repeat of the “Nifty Fifty” large-cap mania of the 1960s. When Howard Marks was just starting his career in finance in 1969, the preceding 20 years had been “a “mostly unchanging backdrop… in front…
“It’s never been a better environment to start shorting stocks,” says Ray David, portfolio manager for the Schroder Australian Equity Long Short Fund. “The last decade has been about asset prices rising because of falling interest rates. We think that tailwind has now come to an end, particularly as Covid has changed market dynamics and…
Australian family offices are becoming more ubiquitous. But stresses are starting to show in their approach to tackling climate change and succession. The rise of the family office in Australia since the turn of the century has been meteoric, driven by an increase in “wealth realisation” events post-GFC and the burgeoning infrastructure for supporting them…
Bitcoin’s volatility means that institutional investors have historically steered well clear. But the times are a-changing, and even skeptics believe the cryptocurrency will have its day. Cryptocurrency is clearly here to stay. While most investors watch its massive price swings with bemused detachment, a few have begun to think seriously about the role they can…
While the worst of the September-October sell-off in emerging markets is probably over, the sector is still in a tailspin. But the best thing about starting low is that can aim high. For many investors, China’s recent regulatory crackdown has been a waking nightmare. Add on the Delta variant, rolling blackouts, and Evergrande, and it’s…
The 2020s are set to be the years of thematic investing – but so were the early 2000s. And the more things change, the more they stay the same. One of the problems in thematic investing is figuring out what’s a theme and what’s just plain old trendy. But that problem is also a problem…
“So much of our advice process and even our industry has grown up around the accumulation process in superannuation,” says Angela Murphy, CEO of Challenger Life. “It’s been about saving that money. But there is now a greater focus on what the things are that we need as we try to turn that pot of…
September has historically been a bad month for markets, and it could be about to get worse. But then again, talk is cheap. Everybody in equity markets knows that September is the cruellest month, to switch months on Eliot. Nobody really understands why it happens (theories range from tax-related selling to seasonal behavioural biases) but…
With all this talk of disruptors, it’s hard to figure out what any of them are actually worth. Less, is the prevailing wisdom. You won’t find many investors in the market today who believe that Tesla has that special something that established auto manufacturers don’t (unless it’s a maverick, spacefaring CEO). The question is, how…
China’s ongoing regulatory crackdown has investors running scared. But China still wants to be a global player – and its most successful companies aren’t going anywhere. China’s recent regulatory efforts have sent a chill down the spine of even the most bullish investors, with questions swirling about where and when the aggressive crackdown – which…
