Investing 101

Since Covid-19, Australia’s relationship with China has all but soured, with trade relations between the two countries grinding to a halt, except for iron ore. And yes, a sad state of affairs indeed. Many Australian companies with business operations in or exporting to China were hit hard. But as the old adage goes, “as one…

Inflationary pressures have been building globally for the past year, as seen in higher food, energy and transport costs. This is most evident in the US where pandemic-driven supply chain issues and prices for rental accommodation, used cars and some foods helped to push the January headline inflation reading to an annualised rate of 7.5%,…

Multi-trillion-dollar global asset manager Amundi this week released a timely commentary to assist investors to navigate the challenging market environment. In this type of uncertainty, it pays to gain exposure to as many different views as possible, with the France-based Amundi offering a unique, on-the-ground, European insight. “The worst-case scenario of a Russian attack on…

Reimagining portfolios for tomorrow’s reality Increasing inflation volatility represents the greatest challenge to investors for a generation. A new regime and the collapse of the financial market status quo requires us to reimagine portfolios. No longer can we rely on yesterday’s logic. “Inflation is the endgame. Just brace for inflation volatility first.” Do we still…

Speak with any financial adviser today, and it’s likely that their biggest investment concern isn’t related to the equity component of their portfolio. After two years of strong markets, most are sitting on strong returns despite the recent uptick in volatility. With the near-consensus view that interest rates are set to move higher sooner rather…

With our long period of near-zero interest rates seemingly at an end, every investor’s attention turns to the balance of their portfolio. Conventional wisdom is that now is the time to rethink exposure to real estate investments because rising interest rates are a drag on property values and rising inflation benefits other asset classes. There…

Inflation has remained in the headlines through February and will likely continue to do so throughout the remainder of the year. Yet whilst the headlines suggest both inflation and interest rates are heading higher in a straight line, the real world impact is far more nuanced and uncertain. This was the central focus of a…

Thematic investing has been among the most powerful and popular trends in the last several decades. The idea of identifying the next Apple or Amazon is one of the main reasons many people get into investing, and likely the biggest creator of wealth in recent history. The last few months have reiterated that investing solely…

There is little doubt that advisers and asset allocators around the world have been rapidly researching which investments have performed best in periods of elevated inflation. Among the most common responses are traditional “macro” hedge funds and “trend-following,” or managed futures strategies. The latter seemingly performed well during both the dotcom crash and the global…

With reporting season now upon us, it’s that time of year again when ASX-listed companies begin sending in their earnings results for the December half-year of 2021 (for some, who use the calendar year as their financial year, it’s full-year result time.) Market analysts and broking houses are expecting results to be a bit of…

“Don’t ask yourself if it’s going to rain, ask yourself if you have an umbrella, in case it does,” says Hugh Selby-Smith, co-chief investment officer and head of research at specialist global equity manager Talaria Capital. Drawing on decades of experience, the firm’s January investor update offered both a history lesson and an insight into…

Blackmore Capital’s chief investment officer (CIO), Marcus Bogdan, provided a rundown on sectors that look attractive following the January sell-off. Bogdan says, “The market was very much polarised in January, and our focus is looking at sectors that underperformed quite dramatically in January. The two sectors that stand out at the moment are healthcare and…