Markets

Exchange-traded funds continued to attract inflows from investors in 2022, albeit at a slower pace thanks to rising interest rates and market volatility. Resources and mining-focused funds were clear standouts in a challenging year.

Senior secured loans make an attractive proposition in an inflationary environment, says Invesco’s Ashley O’Connor, especially when returns are stable and company defaults are at low tide.

The announcement comes amid a major push into the domestic market for Global X, which in December signaled its intention to launch ten new products in 2023.

The Australian mining and energy sector drew a significant increase in investment in 2022, but a hoped-for green mining boom is currently a fantasy, with gas and coal still dominating the project pipeline, new bank research shows. A shift in focus to commodities needed for the energy transition would have to precede another super-cycle, but select opportunities exist.

Credit and equity markets both suffered a very bad 2022, as the collapse of negative correlation between stock and bond prices left no safe haven for investors. But 2023 could be a big year for bonds, with analysts warning investors waiting on the sidelines that they risk missing out.

Despite its lack of liquidity, PE’s popularity in the institutional and wholesale market is set to filter into the retail market with more fund managers offering a conduit to access the burgeoning sector.

Housing conditions are tipped to remain soft in the year ahead as central banks continue to raise credit costs, but experts still believe an all-out property market crash is unlikely.

The US economy should experience a “benign disinflation” over the next six months as pandemic-infused snarls unravel. That should mean good things for stocks, at least in the short term.

A recent survey shows 74 per cent of Australian business leaders expect profits to increase in the year ahead, despite a still-challenging outlook and sticky inflation.

Adviser James O’Reilly had a long-held personal ambition to “stick a pin in the ground” and make a difference, but it was realising how much his clients wanted leadership on sustainable investing that sparked change in the way his practice manages money.

Being independent used to be enough to attract new clients, says Wattle Partners’ Drew Meredith. Today, they are increasingly demanding alignment with their own values.

Household wealth in September recorded its third largest quarterly decline since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began keeping records in 1989. And wealth is likely to keep falling in the coming quarters, as the lagged effects of interest rate hikes flow through.