Reading time: 3 min
The global ETF industry ended the third quarter of 2019 at a record high, with US$5.8T¹ in assets under management – reflecting growth of 20% YTD.
According to BetaShares’ Global ETF Review Q3 2019,

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Reading time: 10 minutes
With interest rates at historic lows, investors who rely on cash or government bonds for income returns are having a harder time making ends meet.
For risk-conscious investors, the good news is that there is a range of innovative cash and fixed income investment exposures on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that offer attractive income returns,

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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 of ~US$8.5B.

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Reading time: 4 minutes
Last month, the Toronto Raptors won their first NBA Championship in franchise history against the Golden State Warriors, who had one of the most dominant offences of the last five years.  It is interesting to analyse how the Raptors pulled it off.  Not only did they lead offensively by scoring more points and making more free throws,

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Determining how to spread your funds across investment asset classes of varying risk and potential return is one of your most important investment decisions.
Having a lot invested in equities will likely mean your long-run returns will be higher, but also that you will have to endure more volatility along the way.

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Reading time: 4 minutes
Video: Quick highlights
Key Market Trends
A resumption of US-China trade tensions saw global equities pull back in May, with the MSCI All-Country World Index declining by 5.7% in local currency terms.  As seen in the chart below, this continues the broadly choppy performance of equity markets since early 2018,

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Reading time: 4 minutes
The surprise Federal election result has been positive for hybrids, and good value appears to remain in this sector.  The market’s overreaction to franking credit fears, moreover, highlights the benefits of active management in this complex area.
Fading overreaction to the Labor Party Policy
When Labor initially announced their proposal to eliminate cash refunds on franking credits in mid-March 2018,

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Reading time: 4 minutes
Hybrid securities last year again demonstrated their ability to hold up well in the face of equity market volatility.
Hybrids: impressive risk-adjusted returns
The Investment Manager of our Active Hybrids Fund (ASX: HBRD) recently wrote a post discussing the strong performance of the hybrids market last year. 

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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.

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In the analysis below we have studied the performance of the BetaShares Active Australian Hybrids Fund (managed fund) (ASX:HBRD) from inception in November 2017 to 31 July 2018, against a range of alternatives. These include an ASX hybrids index published by index provider Solactive (which is the benchmark for HBRD), the fixed-rate Australian bond benchmark (the AusBond Composite Bond Index),

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