Richard Schellbach

In what could be a harbinger for the coming year, the S&P/ASX 200 index has been on a roller coaster ride since the market opened on January 3. What’s making investors extremely jittery are fears incoming President Donald Trump’s policies will fuel inflation.

Companies were largely able to pass cost increases on to the surprisingly resilient Australian consumer, allowing them to defend profit margins, while retail continued to defy analysts’ expectations of a downturn.