Opinion

There is a US$550 billion ($764 billion) market that is rarely considered by Australian investors. Convertible bonds (CBs) are barely used locally, while in the US and Europe these are a key component of a growing company’s capital and pension fund portfolios. To appreciate this market, we must consider why CBs make sense for an…

For obvious reasons, everyone is focused now on the pandemic, the mitigation policies being put in place to control it and the huge monetary, fiscal and medical implications. But there are other external factors worth discussing for the impact they could have on the world’s major economies. The first one is inventory levels. Over the…

It seems as if Japan does not get a lot of respect from external investors, for good reasons. The Nikkei index appears to disprove the theory that the sharemarket delivers superior long-term investment returns, being at the same level now that it was back in 1991. Almost 31 years on from its record high, the…

In the middle of 2015, Morgan Stanley Research in Australia published a report which predicted that managed accounts would prove to be a major disruptor of traditional investing via managed funds/unit trusts. The report, ‘Evolution or Revolution?’, seemed overly bullish on the new way for individual investors and their advisers to access professional investment management….

Although the economic shutdown in Melbourne has put a dampener on property transactions, the world continues outside Victoria, with several major transactions as we pass through September. Specialist property fund manager Castlerock has added another key regional property to its Auslink Property Trust (No.2), spending more than $55 million to acquire the property at 45…

A clear correlation has emerged between risk appetite during the COVID-19 pandemic and the age of investors, with Australian ‘millennials’ – the cohort aged 24-39 – among the most proactive globally, according to a survey of 1,800 people in six countries. Australian investors of all ages are also among the most bullish globally. The survey…

While one can fret about the relative performance of equity and fixed income funds, the frustration with those that have underperformed is directed at their evident style bias.

Navigating their way through a pandemic both personally and on behalf of clients, has served to further increase the burden on an already stretched financial advice industry. It’s hard to blame the thousands of advisers choosing to exit and seek careers elsewhere when you combine the increasing compliance requirements and nuances of the Royal Commission…

The penetration of e-commerce in China remains below 20%, but is the fastest growing and largest market of its kind in the world. This paper looks at those companies winning the battle for clicks across the Asian region.

Investing to improve lives  is the mantra of Martin Currie, one of the world leaders in ESG investing. This annual report reviews the year that was highlighting seismic  moves in society amidst the pandemic and flagging its extensive engagement on governance, meeting 178 companies.

According to global asset manager Franklin Templeton there is no historical comparison for the magnitude of aggregate demand that is currently being destroyed . So how do we recover? Through a combination of co-ordinated policy responses and China likely leading the way.

The COVID-19 recovery is looking more U than V-shaped as hoped, according to Western Asset Management. That said, lockdowns will act only as a disruption to a strong US recovery, with the group favouring consumer names across Europe and the US.