When the Foundations Shift, Opportunity Emerges The global economy is standing on a precarious sandpile, one built from years of excess leverage, underpriced risk, and political complacency. With each new grain, be it a policy misstep, a rate shock, or a geopolitical...
A new and insidious form of recession is brewing, not one born from financial system failure or natural market cycles, but from policy-driven paralysis. At its heart lies an erratic trade strategy, where punitive tariffs are wielded as a bargaining chip in...
The past week has seen global markets whipsaw amid the latest U.S. tariff announcements, with Australian equities caught in the crosscurrents. Initially, global equities shed over $5.4 trillion in value following sweeping U.S. tariffs on imports, sending the S&P...
The February reporting season presented one of the most dynamic market environments in recent memory. Earnings results triggered sharp movements, with investors swiftly adjusting their positions based on performance. This created significant shifts in valuations, with...
In the wake of the recent U.S. election and Donald Trump's return to the White House, global market sentiment remains cautiously optimistic; however, there is widespread speculation regarding the potential impacts on international trade and diplomacy. While many...
Introduction: A Timely Reminder from Howard Marks As Treasurer Jim Chalmers seeks to modernise the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) with one of the most substantial reforms in decades, Howard Marks’ latest memo serves as a reminder of the dangers of interventionist...
As investors, staying informed about economic indicators is crucial to making sound investment decisions. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is one such indicator, providing insights into the inflationary trends within the economy. Today, the Australian Bureau of...
On 22 February 2024, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at ¥39,098.68, eclipsing the previous record high set in December 1989–a staggering 34 years ago. As we highlighted in a prior article, Japan went through a truly extraordinary boom in asset prices through the 1980s that...
It’s a common investing belief that higher interest rates are a negative for stocks. As the world’s most famous investor Warren Buffett creatively described at the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) 2013 annual general meeting, “Interest rates are to asset prices, you...
As we highlighted in our prior market insight, 2024 is set to be a historic year for elections, with more than 2 billion of the world’s population across 50 countries set to head to the polls. The most widely publicised is undoubtedly the United States, where...
Market Insight – Market Surprises, AI Evolution, and Geopolitical Strains
From Doom to Boom: The Story of 2023’s Economic Surprises 23/11/2023 As we highlighted in last week’s article “The Power of Positive Thinking,” 2023 began with many dire predictions about the economy and asset prices. So far, these forecasts have not borne fruit, with...
