Weekly Market Update – 22nd July 2022
Investment markets & key developments Global sharemarkets rallied again this week with US equities up 2.5%, Australia 2.4%, Europe 3.4%, Japan 4.2% while Chinese stocks are down by 0.2%. Positive gains in most sharemarkets after weeks of declines are leading to questions about whether we have seen the low in markets. Views have not changed – the risk is of more downside to equities until there are clearer signs that inflation has peaked (which means central banks can pause on rate hikes) and until economic [...]
Weekly Market Update – 15th July 2022
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets mostly fell over the last week on fears that still rising inflation will trigger faster rate hikes and recession. While US and European shares both bounced on Friday as US rate hike fears abated a bit, for the week they fell 0.9% and 1.1% respectively. The fall in Eurozone shares was magnified by the risk of a permanent shutdown of Russian gas flowing through the Nordstream 1 pipeline to Germany following a maintenance shutdown and [...]
A Finsec View – Reaching for resilience, Hyperloops, The oldest of them all, Mungar musings & more
15th July 2022 One of the tribulations of checking the junk folder of your emails is seeing how people are trying to scam you. Scammers typically sell things that are highly desirable but require hard work and patience. Want to lose weight? Forget going to the gym and adjusting your diet - drink this miracle water! Want to become rich? You can work hard and be sensible with your money, or you can make millions by taking up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Fitness and wealth (amongst [...]
Weekly Market Update – 8th July 2022
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets mostly rose over the last week on hopes that central banks will be able to tame inflation without causing a recession. However, it was messy with Eurozone shares - where the risk of recession is greatest - first making a new bear market low earlier in the week. Australian shares followed the global lead higher with very strong gains in IT, consumer discretionary, health and property stocks. Bond yields generally rose except in Australia. Oil [...]
Weekly Market Update – 1st July 2022
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Recession fears dominated over the last week pushing US, European and Japanese shares down, although Chinese shares (having already had a 35% bear market) rose. Australian shares were little changed with gains in utilities, energy and industrials offset by falls in property, IT and telco shares. Recession fears also pushed down long-term bond yields, oil prices and metal prices with the iron ore price falling about 10% on Friday. And this also pushed the $A down to [...]
A FinSec View – Stagflation, Ok Boomers, Market emotions, Labour shortages and More
1st July 2022 It is a brand new month, quarter and fiscal year, and we will just have to wait and see if (for markets and the economy) it is indeed a new beginning or much of the same. Today also marks the 30th anniversary of the introduction of compulsory super and the Superannuation Guarantee (SG). Initially set at 3%, the SG rises to 10.5% today on its way to 12% by 2025. For all its complexity and shortcomings, it's an exceptional policy achievement which [...]
Weekly Market Update – 24th June 2022
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets managed to stabilise and, in most major markets, bounce from oversold levels over the last week as there were no new hawkish surprises from central banks and weak economic data saw bond yields fall taking pressure of share market valuations despite increasing worries about recession. For the week (to date) US shares are up just over 3% and Australian shares rose by just over 1% led by IT, property and health stocks. Growth downturn fears [...]
Weekly Market Update – 17th June 2022
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets tumbled again over the last week as markets moved to anticipate even more aggressive rate hikes from central banks after the release of higher than expected US inflation data. For the week (so far) global shares are down around 6% and Australian shares are down by around 7%. The fall in the Australian share market was led by IT stocks which have been under pressures all year but also resources, retailers and financials as worries [...]