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 [...]
A Finsec View – What to make of the market sell-off, SMSF BDBN ruling, Outcome bias and more
17th June 2022 As no doubt you will be aware, there have been significant declines on the US share markets over the last week and again last night, leading to substantial declines on the ASX. The US market index (S&P500) is now down -23.5% so far this year, and the NASDAQ is down more than 30%, meaning they are now in a bear market, customarily defined as a drop of 20% or more. At the time of writing, the Australian ASX All Ordinaries is down [...]
Weekly Market Update – 10th June 2022
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Sharemarkets came under renewed downward pressure this week (after a few weeks of rallying). Themes of stagflation risks, heightened recession odds, hawkish central banks and questions as to whether inflation has peaked or not continue to be the main drivers of markets. US shares were down by 2.2% with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down by a similar am. Australian shares are 4% lower (with energy, utilities and healthcare up but financials, real estate and tech declining), Euro shares [...]
Weekly Market Update – 3rd June 2022
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets mostly rose again in the past week as the rebound from oversold levels continued partly on hopes that some cooling in demand will take pressure of inflation and central banks, and as China started to reopen. European shares were little changed but US, Japanese, Chinese and Australian shares rose. The gains in Australian shares were let by resources, consumer staples and industrials offsetting falls in utilities where surging energy prices weighed. However, bond yields rose [...]
A Finsec View – Recession fears, ASX 300, Timeless advice and more
3rd June 2022 Those tasked with running the world's economies right now are having quite a time of it. Inflation, interest rates, property markets, unemployment, war, and lockdowns are indeed quite a line-up! Gaining clarity and a sage perspective on the topic(s) is not always easy to come by, which is why we jumped at a recent invitation to sit in on Westpac Chief Economist Bill Evans's latest economic update. Whilst there is not the time to distil his commentary in detail this week (more [...]