Australian capital city home prices fell 0.2% in March, their fifth monthly fall in a row. This has brought annual growth down to 0.8% from 11.4% in May last year. Most of the recent weakness relates to Sydney and to a less extent Melbourne. Show More
Dividend lovers: we’re witnessing a bit of a changing of the guard when it comes to the performance of ASX listed companies. Financials and in particular banks – where investors have traditionally looked for their sustainable dividend growth – are beginning to be threatened for the mantle of sustainable dividend... Show More
On average, companies in the top 10 per cent of expected dividend yield deliver negative earnings growth, negative dividend growth and underperform the market over time, our analysis suggests. To find the companies with genuinely sustainable dividends, you need to dig much deeper than these simple historical measures. Show More
For the last few years the Australian economy has been meandering between 2-3% growth. This remained the case through last year with December quarter GDP up just 0.4%, and annual growth of 2.4% as a bounce a year ago dropped out. In the quarter growth was helped by consumer spending... Show More
If Australia has an Achille’s heal it’s the high and still rising level of household debt that has gone hand in hand with the surge in house prices relative to incomes. Whereas several comparable countries have seen their household debt to income ratios pull back a bit since the Global... Show More
Global listed real estate has been enjoying a favourable outlook, supported by historically-low interest rates and improving economic sentiment. Here are three themes that we’re expecting to perform particularly well during the year due to their exposure to long-term secular growth trends. Show More
I’m going out on a limb and calling it now: 2018 will be the year of the unloved asset. In particular, investors in the oil and the energy sector will be well placed for a reasonably strong bounce back in the first half of this year, a shift that’s already... Show More
While it makes sense for individual investors to look to institutions for cues and clues to inform how they invest – or at least how they think about the world they invest in – sometimes it really doesn’t. Show More
The pace of technological inventions and improvements continues to grow but anxiety and fear around the impact of these changes to jobs is lifting even more. The focus of new technology in the market this year has been around “machine learning”, which is a subsect of artificial intelligence that deals... Show More
A common narrative on the Australian housing market is that it’s in a giant speculative bubble propelled by tax breaks, low interest rates and “liar loans” that have led to massive mortgage stress and that it’s all about to go bust, bringing down the banks and the economy with it.... Show More
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, inflation in the United States is not dead. Far from it. We believe inflation is coming back in a meaningful way and we’re preparing for its return by investing a portion of our portfolio in a fairly obscure fixed income ETF. Show More
Underpinned by a number of global factors, including rising demand for smartphones and increased consumer confidence, nickel and copper are two commodities that we believe represent a strong investment opportunity. Buoyed by an improving economic cycle and strong currency growth, both commodities look set to capitalise on strong global tailwinds.... Show More
The low interest rates of recent times along with periodic turmoil in investment markets has provided us with a reminder of the importance of the income (cash) flow or yield an investment provides. It’s particularly important for those relying on investment income to fund their living expenses. As with all... Show More
When Warren Buffett thinks you should park your money in low-cost passive funds, it’s time to pay attention. But could the Oracle of Omaha be suggesting people go passive at the wrong time? Show More
“We're now seeing discussions turn. People are talking about opening mines again that have been shut for some time. People are talking about increasing production from existing mines, opening new pits and so on” Show More
To cut through the deafening noise around this week’s Federal budget, Livewire has asked four of Australia’s leading Economists to boil the budget down to its single most important theme, and to explain what it means for investors. We also asked which specific sectors of the market are going to... 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
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
As part of the NAOS investment process, we pay particular attention to the comments made by company CEO’s and business leaders in order to gain a greater understanding of the current investment environment and key trends that may be emerging. Below are quotes from the week which in our view... Show More