In a noteworthy decision on Tuesday, March 19, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced an increase to its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2007. Japan has endured a prolonged period of “ultra loose” monetary policy since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), as...
As Super Tuesday's results and Nikki Haley’s exit from the Republican primary race, the stage looks set for a 2024 U.S. Presidential election rematch between the incumbent Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. With rumblings from various European leaders about...
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...
Healthcare accounts for approximately 10% of the S&P/ASX 200 index and is widely regarded as a reliable and defensive sector that provides returns that are relatively uncorrelated with the rest of an investor’s portfolio and the economy at large–often with less...
On a Behind The Memo podcast last year, renowned value investor Howard Marks stated that: “What I learned from my first 10 years of experience is that good investing doesn’t come from buying good things but from buying things well. The difference is more than...
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...
The Power of Positive Thinking 16/11/2023 Economist Paul Samuelson is famously quoted as saying that the stock market has predicted nine out of the last five recessions. While somewhat satirical, this quip demonstrates how poor investors and economists are at...
U.S. Credit Rating Downgraded by Fitch 10/8/2023 Fitch announced last week that it downgraded the United States’ long-term credit rating from the AAA (the highest possible rating) down to AA+ (the second highest rating). For those that are unfamiliar, Fitch is the...
With the end-of-financial-year reporting season upon us, it’s often good to have a game plan going for when each of the companies you own publishes their full-year financial results. In particular, research has shown that investors often struggle with deciding whether...
A Unique Opportunity to Access the Ground Floor of Innovation 27/7/2023 We’ve written several times about the historic difference in valuation between small and large companies. There’s a number of ways investors could take advantage of this–small cap ETFs, small cap...
