Reading time: 3 min The first quarter of 2019 saw investors continue to preference investing via the ETF structure compared to traditional mutual funds, which continued to sustain net outflows. Fixed income was most definitely the flavour of the quarter, as investors moved to a decidedly risk-off position in their portfolios. Within equities, North American

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Reading time: 5 minutes FIXATED ON FIXED INCOME AS INDUSTRY APPROACHES $50B MILESTONE The Australian ETF industry started the second quarter of 2019 where the previous quarter finished, with strong monthly growth which led the industry to once again hit a fresh record high, just shy of the milestone $50B mark. The industry ended April

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Reading time: 4 minutes The proposed removal of franking credit rebates that is part of the ALP’s election policy has been an ongoing point of discussion over the last 12 months. Irrespective of debate around the upcoming election or the form any rule changes may ultimately take, a central issue for many investors is how

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Reading time: 4 minutes Beginning in early 2009, the current global equity bull market has been one of the longest on record. While no-one can pick the exact top in the market, a growing number of analysts concede the bull phase is at a mature stage and downside risks are accumulating. Bear markets, when they

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The current equity market slump, including ‘Shocktober”, has once again shown the value that bonds can play in investors’ portfolios in terms of offering some downside protection. While this may be obvious to some, what is perhaps less obvious is that compared to the traditional benchmark bond indices which are generally heavily weighted to low-yielding

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Fixed-income investors seeking safety in bonds be warned: it took only a relatively modest rise in bond yields over the past year for Australia’s headline bond index to post negative returns.  This result highlights the risks that traditional fixed-rate bond investments currently pose to investors in an environment of low but rising bond yields.  By

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