While the majority of Australian investors’ portfolios tend to be very equity-heavy, in the current economic environment there may be a case for diversifying across asset classes and increasing commodities exposure. This article looks at four of the key factors supporting a bullish view on commodities in the near-term. 1. Reflation and Releveraging Economic reflation

Read more

In this contributed post, Chris Joye, Portfolio Manager at Coolabah Capital and the investment manager of our HBRD fund, analyses the current risk and return trade-offs of ASX shares vs. major bank hybrids. The post illustrates that in current market conditions, hybrid investors are able to obtain attractive income returns coupled with significantly less historical

Read more

With global markets reeling from the risk of a trade war between the United States and China, the imminent US earnings reporting season could be a timely reminder that the market’s underlying fundamentals – so far at least – remain sound. US Earnings: A bumper quarter in prospect Contrary to persistent fears, US earnings growth

Read more

Positive inflows not enough to stop industry dip  With both Australian and Global equity markets falling significantly for the second month in a row, continued positive net inflows were not sufficient to stop the industry from declining –ending a 13 month run of positive growth.  Net new money for the industry was positive at $481m,

Read more

Australian ETF investor numbers continue to grow as industry enters the mainstream The seventh annual BetaShares/Investment Trends ETF Report provides a unique snapshot of the key statistics and drivers in the Australian Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) industry, from the perspective of self-directed investors, SMSFs and financial planners. This year’s findings signpost a continued rapid growth

Read more

Month in Review – Trade tremors The pull back in global equities continued in March, with the MSCI All-Country Net-Return Index dropping 2.2% after a 3.5% drop in February.  On a month-end basis, this Index is now down 5.7% from its January peak, which is still less than the last “correction” of 11.6% between mid-2015

Read more

The Australian sharemarket has struggled in recent times to replicate the performance of many global peers.  One of the major drags over the past year has been the financial sector, reflecting a slowing in credit growth and new regulatory concerns stemming from the banking royal commission.  Outside of Australia’s “mega-cap” stocks, however, sharemarket performance has

Read more

There is no doubt that the overall investment cost differences between Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), traditional unlisted Managed Funds and Listed Investment Companies (LICs) have contributed to the significant in-flows and growing investor interest in ETFs over the past few years. While the benefits of investing in ETFs are varied, and have been discussed at

Read more

Given the current US economic expansion is one of the longest on record, it’s natural for investors to ask when the good times might come to an end.  One closely watched indicator is the US yield curve, which has continued to flatten over the past year – but at this stage does not suggest a

Read more

I got up early last Saturday morning and started my usual weekend routine.  Made myself a cup of coffee, a piece of toast and logged on to the AFR. Reading through the headlines, I came across many investment themes and ideas and couldn’t help thinking to myself “There’s an ETF for that!” Now this wasn’t

Read more