Equities

Funds into thematic exchange traded funds (ETFs) have dried up this year as technology stocks get hit globally.

For investors looking to build positions in quality technology firms, the US computer chip giants are trading at attractive price levels, with many brokers now rating them as a buy, according to data from the Wall Street Journal.

“We recently cut risk but stick with stocks over bonds for now. Equity prices now reflect much of the worsening macro-outlook and hawkish Fed” were the latest comments from the Blackrock Investment Institute in their weekly research note.

Value investing has been the clear winner of the first third of 2022, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading losses in global sharemarkets.

Ruffer LLP’s single strategy approach, which is a multi-asset class, diversified fund seeking to deliver consistent returns and limit drawdowns in every market cycle is increasingly rare in an environment dominated by thematics.

In their latest quarter fixed income outlook, titled ‘Investing Through Inflation and Growth Uncertainty’ global asset manager Neuberger Berman has flagged somewhat of a non-consensus view on the outlook for inflation, growth and fixed income assets.

The classic way of thinking has been to ditch bond funds as interest rates rise. Why? Because as rates rise, bond prices have an inverse relationship, and drop in value as newer bonds with higher yields become more attractive. Sounds about right?

During March, Australia’s sharemarket unexpectedly claimed pole position against the majority of the world’s larger and more developed markets.

Amid ongoing elevated volatility, some financial advisers are recommending that investors hold alternative investments, including market neutral funds, which could help cushion portfolios against a broad market sell-off.

“We all think we know China, but you won’t think of China the same way after this presentation” explained James Dunn, host of The Inside Network’s Equities and Growth Assets Symposium held in April. He was introducing Lewis Prescott, international CEO of Mingshi Investment Management, a multi-billion-dollar quantitative equity manager that recently launched in Australia….

“If you ask 100 engineers how much steel and concrete are required to build a bridge, and 99 engineers say x amount of steel and y amount of concrete, and one engineer – just one – says half of x and half of y, I think there’s probably more chance of falling pregnant via wind…

The passive vs. active debate remains alive and well, particularly in the larger company universe, where being different to the index is quite a challenge, and in many cases, a career risk. The consistent standout among the quarterly passive vs. active reports, however, has been the Australian smaller company sector. Globally recognised as companies valued…