The volatility and declining performance of the markets over the last few weeks have certainly put some investors on edge and have been a timely reminder that, just as markets were kind to investors last year, and by and large trended up, markets can indeed go down. Given the recent volatility, depending on how your

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Stocks: off to a strong start Global equities posted further gains in January, with the MSCI All-Country Index returning 4.1% in local currency terms. By contrast, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index delivered a negative 0.4% return, and continued the general trend of underperformance that has been evident over the past year.  The trend for global equities

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After close to a decade of underperformance there are strong indications that 2018 could finally be the turnaround year for the world’s major energy companies. In this post, I provide some reasons why this could be: The synchronised global growth currently being seen across developed and emerging markets should provide support for oil demand. Meanwhile,

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One word: BIG! We’ll begin our posts in 2018 with a look at the year 2017 in ETF-land. And what a year it was! The Global ETF industry recorded significant growth in 2017, receiving its highest ever level of net inflows (US$633B) – a growth rate of 18% year on year. In total the global

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One of the surprise global market developments over the past year has undoubtedly been weakness in the $US. Why? This note suggests that, rather than simply blaming a dovish Fed or an erratic US President, the main driver of $US weakness has been the broadening (or “synchronisation”) of global growth over the past year, which

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With the end of the year drawing near, we thought it was an opportune time to discuss the year to come for the ETF industry. In this post, we outline our top 3 predictions for the ETF industry in 2018. In our view, a growing audience of younger investors, an increasing array of fixed income options, and

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BIG! November in the ETF industry was big! And not just big but BIG! November broke essentially every record I can think of: a) All time record FuM; b) Record $ monthly FuM growth; c) Record monthly $ net inflows; and d) All time highest monthly value traded. Told you it was big! The Australian

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Month in Review Global equities enjoyed another good month in November, reflecting ongoing positive economic data and still relatively low global inflation and bond yields.  Prospects for a US tax cut also helped to buoy sentiment over the month, while geo-political risks – such as North Korea – remained contained. The MSCI All-Country Equity Index

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Uber, the ride sharing company, was caught out last week after it was discovered they had paid US$100,000 to cybercriminals in October 2016, following the theft of 57 million customer and driver records worldwide. This has caused significant reputational damage to the company and clearly shows no company is safe from the ever increasing threat

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Due to their attractive franked income returns, usually relatively low capital volatility, and ready availability through the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), hybrid securities have been a popular choice with Australian retail investors over recent years.  That said, while until recently investing in hybrids directly was the primary method available to investors, this note outlines the

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