(11 October 2019, The Age, Business, p27, By David Scutt) ‘Australian shares endured a wild ride on Thursday, gyrating throughout the session as a swathe of conflicting headlines on trade talks between the United States and China saw investor sentiment change in the blink of an eye. After three trips into negative territory and two … Continue reading
(8 October 2019, The Age, p29, By Lucy Battersby) ‘The local market had a strong session on Monday albeit with very low volumes due to public holidays around the country. A positive lead came from Wall Street US on Friday after US non-farm payrolls expanded by 136,000 in September. This missed expectations but still boosted … Continue reading
(5 October 2019, AFR, p6, Karen Maley, Columnist) ‘Global equity, bond and commercial property markets could suffer savage sell-offs if investors, who have until now been remarkably complacent about risk, suddenly wake up to the deteriorating global outlook. In its October Financial Stability Review, the Reserve Bank highlights the darkening global outlook, as economic activity has … Continue reading
(1 October 2019, The Age, Business, p27, By David Scutt) ‘Weighed down by steep declines in financial and tech stocks, Australian shares fell at the start of the new trading week.The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 27.8 points, or 0.4 per cent, to close at 6688.3, unwinding earlier gains that saw it lift as much … Continue reading
(28 September 2019, AFR online, Sarah Ponczek and Vildana Hajric) ‘New York | A week dominated by political drama in Washington ended with the spectre of a deepening trade war, sending US stocks to a three-week low and bolstering demand for haven assets. The S&P 500 fell 1.1 per cent in the five days to … Continue reading
[COMMENT: Warning!! Make sure to read this article in entirety before deciding whether the information is useful or not.] (25 September 2019, AFR, p31, Michael McCarthy) ‘Value investing has intuitive appeal. Identify a company with a value higher than its current share price, buy and wait. Eventually, the short-term “voting machine” that is the market … Continue reading
(23 September 2019, AFR, p20, Jun Bei Liu) ‘There is never a dull day on the sharemarket. The end of the volatile reporting season marked the beginning of the great rotation from recent winners into losers, so to speak. The US equity market staged a five-standard deviation rally − a particularly rare event − of … Continue reading
(20 September 2019, AFR, p28, Elouise FowlerReporter) ‘Stocks rallied to a seven-week high on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates and as a rise in the jobless rate boosted the chance of the Reserve Bank of Australia cutting interest rates next month. The S&P/ASX200 closed up 0.5 per cent at 6717.5 points, … Continue reading
(14 September 2019, AFR, p33, Elouise Fowler, Reporter) ‘The local sharemarket closed the week higher after the European Central Bank pushed the stimulus button and trade war tensions eased ahead of high-level talks between the US and China in October. The S&P/ASX200 ended the week up 14.33 points, or 0.33 per cent, higher at 6669.19, … Continue reading
(11 September 2019, AFR, p17, Sue Mitchell, Senior Reporter) ‘The ink is barely dry on retailers’ full year accounts but investors are anxiously awaiting first quarter and annual meeting sales updates to see if an encouraging uptick in consumer spending in the first few weeks of 2020 is sustained. Retailers such as Woolworths, Wesfarmers, JB … Continue reading
(7 September 2019, AFR, p33, Sarah Turner) ‘The ASX eked out a weekly gain, recapturing one-month highs, as fresh trade talks between the US and China managed to calm global growth worries. The S&P/ASX 200 ended Friday’s session 34 points, or 0.5 per cent, higher at 6647.30 That mild advance cemented a weekly gain of … Continue reading
(6 September 2019, AFR, p1, Sarah Turner and Vesna Poljak) ‘An unexpected revival of US-China trade talks, the cooling of political mayhem in Hong Kong and the no-deal Brexit vote in the UK have helped soothe fears about the global economy and set off a rally in Asian markets. The S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.9 … Continue reading
(4 September 2019, AFR, p27, Elouise Fowler) ‘More than nine out of 10 large-cap fund managers failed to deliver a better return than the market in 2018-19. Fund managers recorded an average return of 6.3 per cent, well below the gain of 11.6 per cent enjoyed by passive investors in S&P/ASX 200 index funds, S&P … Continue reading
(31 August 2019, AFR, p33, William McInnes, Reporter) ‘A strong session on Friday wasn’t enough to offset steep losses earlier in August, as the Australian sharemarket finally recorded its first negative month of the year. The trade tensions and warnings of an economic downturn the market had been stubbornly ignoring for the first seven months … Continue reading
(31 August 2019, AFR, p23, Chanticleer, James Thomson) ‘It’s been a long, tense reporting season, so let’s celebrate the hits, misses and silliness of four big weeks. Thank God that’s over. The August reporting season is always exhausting for executives and investors, but there has been an extra layer of tension rippling through the 2019 … Continue reading
(30 August 2019, AFR, p36, William McInnes and Elouise Fowler) ‘A late rally pushed the sharemarket higher for a third straight session on Thursday, extending its recovery from Monday’s sell-off. Despite a lack of news on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1 per cent during Wednesday’s trade, with the S&P 500 … Continue reading
[COMMENT: What happens when our stock broker goes belly up?] (30 August 2019, AFR, p39, Michael Pelly, Legal Affairs Editor) ‘Federal Court judge Jacqueline Gleeson has paved the way for a historic joint sitting of New Zealand and Australian courts to handle the liquidation of a stockbroker. Justice Gleeson said the bid to sort through … Continue reading
[COMMENT: Beware of scary headlines!! This often happens. Our share market loses billions of dollars of value in one day, and the daily news reports make it that it’s a really big deal. But take a look at my price chart herewith. The fall on Monday brought the market down but the index is still … Continue reading
(27 August 2019, AFR, p9, Joanna Mather, Superannuation writer) ‘The prudential regulator will intervene to settle a quarrel over the extent to which unlisted property and infrastructure can be counted alongside bonds and cash as “defensive” assets. The practice of classifying unlisted assets as partially defensive – rather than wholly growth – is contentious, having … Continue reading
[COMMENT: The ongoing debate about value investing versus growth investing, and their usefulness, is discussed in this article – very interesting.] (26 August 2019, AFR, p15, Jonathan Shapiro, Senior Reporter) ‘Cliff Asness says much of his job is about sticking to his finely-tuned investment strategy like grim death. It’s the question every almost every fund … Continue reading
(24 August 2019, AFR, p28, Tony Featherstone, Finance writer) ‘Canny investors should be keeping an eye on the huge gap between soaring tech/mining stocks and a “black hole” of underperformers that could be set for takeovers. Australia’s small-cap universe is diverging into two worlds – a narrow group of soaring tech and mining stocks, and … Continue reading
(24 August 2019, AFR, p22, Vesna Poljak, Jonathan Shapiro and Jemima Whyte) ‘Activist short-sellers made a startling impression on the Australian market over a year ago, striking at targets with mixed precision but genuine impact. Now the reception has changed. ‘ <snipped…> ‘Activist short-sellers made a startling impression on the Australian market over a year … Continue reading
(24 August 2019, AFR, p33, William McInnes, Reporter) ‘Australian shares rose firmly this week as a number of better-than-expected earnings and positive outlook statements lifted the market to its best week since July 5. The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 117.6 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 6523.1 while the broader All Ordinaries firmed 128.4 points, … Continue reading
(19 August 2019, AFR, p22, Patrick Commins, Columnist) ‘Investors are set to start the week on a steadier footing after a tumultuous two weeks, but an early reading on global manufacturing activity looms as a key test for investors as the ASX’s underwhelming earnings season rolls on.’ <snipped…> ‘So far, the profits season has provided … Continue reading
(17 August 2019, AFR, p33, William McInnes, Reporter) ‘Australian shares fell heavily for a second week running, as global recession fears mounted following the inversion of the US yield curve. The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 178.9 points, or 2.7 per cent, to 6405.5 while the broader All Ordinaries lost 177.5 points, or 2.7 per cent, … Continue reading
(16 August 2019, AFR, p29, David Randall and Jennifer Ablan) ‘New York | The summer sell-off is finally here – and not all US investors are rattled by it. After a record-setting first half of the year that pushed US stock markets to new highs, a more than 760-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial … Continue reading
(16 August 2019, The Age, p4, By David Scutt) ‘Australian stocks were thumped on Thursday, logging their worst trading session in a year after moves in the US bond market stoked fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy. Around $60 billion in sharemarket value was torched as the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 2.85 … Continue reading
[COMMENT: In trading Thursday, the major US equity indices all fell almost 3 percent. Now that is a large amount for an index to fall in just one day.] (15 August 2019, New York Times online, By Matt Phillips) ‘Trade-war worries hammered financial markets again on Wednesday as data from Germany and China showed trouble … Continue reading
(15 August 2019, AFR, p29, Patrick Commins, Columnist) ‘There are scenarios where a US-China trade deal happens sooner than the market believes, which could lead to a “violent” reaction in a very one-sided market. As 10-year bond yields in Australia fell below 1 per cent for the first time last week, my colleague wondered whether we … Continue reading
(10 August 2019, AFR, p33, William McInnes, Reporter) ‘Australian shares were unable to recover from a heavy sell-off at the start of the week, as trade war concerns pushed the local sharemarket to its worst week in nine months. The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 184.2 points, or 2.7 per cent, to 6584.4 this week while … Continue reading
