Using a party as an analogy for the current equity market, we think this ten-year ‘party’ is about to finish. While we don’t know what time the lights are going back on, what we do know is that the music is getting louder and the people are getting crazier. Show More
Scott Haslem started his career in 1991 as an economist working alongside the likes of Glenn Stevens and Bernie Fraser at the RBA. Today he is the Chief Investment Officer of Crestone Wealth Management, a firm that oversees ~$16 billion of assets on behalf of wealthy individuals and not for... Show More
What exactly is a defensive asset? The answer to this depends very much on who you ask. For some people the priority is liquidity so just holding cash might make sense. For others, it means they have very limited performance volatility so perhaps you could consider a term deposit. And... Show More
April nineteen sixty eight. Fifty years ago. It was perhaps the first mainstream introduction to fictional Artificial Intelligence (AI) when we met ‘HAL 9000’, the supercomputer controlling the spacecraft Discovery in Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick’s confounding sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL was an early exercise in... Show More
Once upon a time, the high yield bond market was for speculative companies and investors. Today, the market is where Virgin, Netflix and Hertz raise capital from institutional investors. In this short interview, Vivek Bommi from Neuberger Berman discusses how perception is still catching up with reality in this fast... Show More
In the scramble for customers, some fund managers and superannuation providers are taking on additional risk, investing in a range of assets and deeming them ‘cash’ when clearly they are not. Show More
While absolute valuation has limited use for timing cyclical bull and bear markets, it does provide insights into market sensitivities to challenging (or indeed positive) economic environments. Added to that, relative valuation can be particularly insightful – especially as a key building block for allocating between asset classes and geographies.... Show More
As investors, we are all looking for an edge in earning outsized returns. Here I identify 3 simple portfolio management principles that are essential in any investor’s toolkit, and briefly outline how they can all be brought together into a simple cohesive strategy. Show More
The ‘balanced’ portfolio has become an institution in the financial world. Equities and bonds are the main ingredients and the ‘mix’ determines the categories of balanced funds commonly used. Here we discuss this approach, and look at another option. Show More
Schroders Australia has completed its third broker insights survey, diving into how brokers are investing. Volatility has pushed the need to protect capital to the top of the priority list. Show More
Recently Deloitte Access Economics published “The Corporate Bond Report 2018 – Australia’s growing appetite for corporate bonds” which FIIG Securities commissioned to shine a spotlight on how the corporate bond market performed and the potential it offered to Australian investors. Show More
The investment landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. Deleveraging has become an ongoing theme; central banks have played a significant role in guiding the economy and extreme swings in investor sentiment have all contributed to market volatility. All this will likely continue to impact the reliability of future investment... Show More
This week it's Commodities, specifically an aggregate view of commodities and a look at valuations. Commodities as an asset class rose from relative obscurity to become a popular addition to portfolios by the more innovative asset allocators in the last 10-15 years. Although the "commodities supercycle" perhaps overstated some of... Show More
In the video below, taken from the recent PM Capital Adviser Forum, Chief Investment Officer Paul Moore discusses why equities still stack up versus other asset classes, particularly government bonds. He also comments on modern asset allocation and why advisers and their clients need to think differently. Show More
This week the "Chart of the Week" shows the equity risk premium across a couple of key developed economy stockmarkets. The equity risk premium provides a unique perspective on valuation, which brings in not just what's going on with absolute valuations, but also reflects the opportunity cost or trade-off vs... Show More
There’s nothing quite like local knowledge to give you an insiders view of a foreign country. As the strength of the US economy remains a key focus for investors, Livewire jumped at the opportunity to get a first had account from Lazard’s New York based Ronald Temple. Show More
I spent a lot of time in the 2017 End of Year Special Edition looking back across the year, covering some of my best charts and calls (and some of the worst!). But this article provides a look at the most important part of that report. Show More
Following the 2017 annual reporting season Schroders has again surveyed Australian brokers to gain insight into their asset allocation views. The inaugural survey six months ago highlighted the top three objectives for participating brokers were to generate income, maximise returns including franking credits, and protect capital. Show More
In the AFR I argue that super funds need to radically overhaul their approach to asset-allocation by offering different options for renters and home owners, which have fundamentally different portfolio preferences given the way they are investing their wealth outside of super. The bottom line is that about half of... Show More
The French elections are now seemingly a done-deal, with a market friendly outcome most likely. So it's worth checking in on European equities, as I did in my weekly report. A key chart is that of forward PE ratios. By itself European equities look neither attractive nor scary on an... Show More
