Volatility in commodity prices have led to a significant dislocation between market and fundamental valuations around the world. As the long-term demand for natural gas continues to rise, our Global Listed Infrastructure team took some time to share their thoughts on the future of the industry, including which companies look... Show More

The Australian retail environment remains in a tough position due to factors weighing on consumer demand along with discounting pressures from competitors. Annual retail spending growth has averaged 3.0% over 2017, well below the 6.1% pa average of the pre-GFC decade. A shift to offshore online spending is one of... Show More

With more people living in urban areas than ever before, and over 1.2 billion cars on the road today, urbanisation will put strain on the existing, grossly inefficient infrastructure. However, as driverless vehicles come of age, cities are being reshaped to cater for changing infrastructure needs, creating a unique investment... Show More

Dr Bernard Meyerson, IBM’s chief innovation officer, was in the room in 2011 when his company’s powerful artificial intelligence (AI) computer, Watson, famously won Jeopardy, defeating the game show’s two most successful contestants. “There was an incredible euphoria. Watching the system do that was mind blowing” Meyerson said in a... Show More

Adaptation and flexible spaces will be pivotal in successful real estate design and management in the next decade, driven by changes in the way people shop, work and socialise. Bill Gates famously said: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change... Show More

A year ago I thought that there was good reason not to fear the Fed raising rates1. However, its initial move combined with worries about just about everything to give us a bout of share market weakness into early 2016 before investors realised that there was indeed no reason to... Show More

2016 started badly for investors with worries about global growth and deflation. But global growth turned out okay &, despite political events, rising bond yields & disappointing Australian growth, the result has been a constrained but okay year for diversified investors. 2017 is likely to see another year of okay... Show More

After the recent experience with the Brexit vote in the UK and election of Donald Trump as President of the US, which are indicative of a nationalist backlash against the pro-globalisation establishment, there is a fear that Europe will go the same way with nationalist forces in Italy, Austria, France,... Show More

In the upside-down world logic that applies to much of investing, there are a bunch of mistakes investors often make which makes it harder for them to reach their financial goals. Many of the mistakes investors make are based on common sense rules of thumb that turn out to be... Show More

From record lows just after the Brexit vote, government bond yields have spiked higher. Ten-year bond yields have risen from 1.36% in the US to 2.2%, from -0.19% in Germany to 0.31% and from 1.81% in Australia to 2.64% in four months. This, in turn, has led to sharp falls... Show More

After a seemingly long and arduous campaign, Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States with the Republican Party retaining control of the House, and the Senate, in Congress. Trump’s election risks ushering in a period of policy uncertainty which could cause further sharemarket weakness in the short... Show More

Perhaps the best that can be said of the US election is that it will soon be over. While polls had been moving in favour of a Clinton victory, the FBI's announcement that it is examining new emails in relation to her use of a private email server while Secretary... Show More

We’re going through one of those periods where it seems there is a long list of things for investors to worry about: the US election; the Fed; ever-present fears about a break of the Eurozone; and China. These risks are real and in our view some combination of them could... Show More

When market consensus is heavily positioned for one outcome, it pays to evaluate the probability of the exact opposite occurring. Consider inflation. It has been drifting down in Australia over the last fifteen years and is now as low as 1%. Consensus is for inflation to stay low, or even... Show More

In a world where market volatility and low growth are the new norm, asset allocation is more important than ever. As Tim Keegan, AMP Capital’s Head of SMSF and Self-Directed Wealth explains, “It’s more challenging than ever for SMSF investors to improve their returns just by relying on Australian equities,... Show More

Any trader will tell you there are a few holes in the ‘Efficient Market Hypothesis‘ theory that suggests the market always prices assets efficiently. To gain an edge from efficiencies that may appear, Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy and Co-creator of AMP Capital’s new exchange traded managed fund, Dynamic... Show More

Expensive housing and high household debt leave Australian housing vulnerable. But without a recession or much higher interest rates a property crash is unlikely. However, the surging supply of apartments and the continuing strength of the Sydney and Melbourne property markets pose an increasing risk. Average dwelling prices in these... Show More

Empirical studies have demonstrated that asset allocation determines the vast majority of the returns that a portfolio will generate*, with a landmark study by Brinson, Hood and Singer calculating the figure to be as high as 91.5%. To fully leverage this, allocation ranges need to be completely flexible, and AMP... Show More

Remember Brexit? The UK’s unexpected vote in late June to leave the EU led to a dramatic collapse in market sentiment. At the point of maximum pessimism, the FTSE 100 was down 8% on the day. Yet within a week the FTSE had recovered all of its ground, and then... Show More

With developed countries’ equity, bond and property indices all looking expensive, investors need to look further afield to find an asset class with significant growth potential. AMP Capital’s new exchange traded managed fund, the Dynamic Markets Fund (Hedge Fund), ASX:DMKT, has about 65% of its capital allocated in growth assets,... Show More