Reading time: 3 minutes INDUSTRY CONTINUES GROWTH TRAJECTORY IN A TOUGH MONTH FOR SHARES In what was a tough month for equities, the Australian ETF industry continued to grow, and ended the month at an all-time high of $54.1B in funds under management (FuM), with a monthly market cap increase of 1.5% (+$784m). Read on

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Reading time: 5 minutes Key Market Trends – trade tensions return August saw a return to ‘risk-off’ sentiment in global markets, reflecting a resumption in US-China trade tensions, growing signs that these tensions are impacting on global growth (especially in Asia and Europe) and related fears associated with the renewed inversion of the US yield

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Reading time: 5 minutes Earlier this month, in Investing for income (Part 1), we looked at the challenges facing investors seeking income in a low interest rate world, and presented several opportunities in the cash and fixed income asset class. In Part 2, we explore the opportunities to earn income from equities. Australian investors are

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Reading time: 5 minutes Given the ongoing trade war and slowing global growth, many investors are understandably concerned about the market outlook.  While I feel a ‘doomsday’ scenario is unlikely anytime soon, this note nonetheless considers what investment options might be of interest to those investors who hold grave concerns – and are seeking portfolio

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Reading time: 4 minutes MULTIPLE RECORDS TUMBLE AS THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR STARTS WITH A BANG! The Australian ETF industry experienced rapid, and record-breaking growth this month, benefiting from both high net flows and positive market movements. July 2019 was truly a month where records tumbled, with all-time records broken for: total funds

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Reading time: 5 minutes Key Market Trends – bonds still driving equities There were more modest moves in global financial markets over July, with earlier aggressive expectations of US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts tempered somewhat by signalling from the Fed. US-China trade tensions also continued to linger while markets braced for the Q2 US

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Reading time: 5 minutes According to a Bloomberg report from June 2019, more than 20% (or US$11 trillion worth) of the investment-grade bonds on issue worldwide were trading at negative yields. In other words, investors buying these bonds know that if they hold them to maturity, they will receive cashflows over the life of the

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Reading time: 3 min As 2019 reaches its half-way point, we have seen a continued and marked preference by investors for passive strategies at the expense of actively managed strategies, along with an overall preference for investing via the ETF structure. Overall U.S. ETFs received ~US$56B of net inflows versus outflows in traditional managed funds

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Reading time: 5 minutes There are at least three reasons why it may make sense to have some exposure to government bonds in your portfolio. And in this regard, relatively long “duration” government bonds – such as through the newly launched BetaShares Australian Government Bond ETF (ASX Code: AGVT) – potentially offer the most advantageous

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Reading time: 4 minutes INDUSTRY BREAKS THE $50B BARRIER! It has been another strong performance by the Australian ETF industry in the first six months of 2019. The industry’s funds under management increased by a very significant 25% for the half, to end the financial year at a new record high of $50.9B, with the

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