The China Threat
There are no shortage of worries for investors these days but at the top of the list is China. The following chart illustrates how important China has become for our Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The Bank of America Merrill-Lynch survey of international fund managers polls large funds with assets under management in excess of $708…
Mining Services and Construction Stocks with Strong Earnings Growth Forecasts
Many investors seek safety with the service providers of the “hot” products or commodities of the moment. In the face of booming commodity prices in iron ore or oil, common sense suggests investing in a company that provides services for multiple miners and oil operators provides a level of diversification that suggests less risk. Conventional wisdom advises…
Lessons From The Resurrection Of The Iron Ore Miners
Fueled by the insatiable appetite of the Chinese Government to build, build, build; ASX iron ore miners led Australia on an unprecedented mining boom, with the price of iron ore eclipsing US$180 per tonne in early 2011. The price softened in 2012, leading to some opining the boom was about to end, with others in the…
Breville Innovates Its Way To International Success
I admire small Australian companies that take on global markets and succeed in industries where the odds are stacked against them. Companies that deliver good results over long periods, innovate and take risks, and usually prove the doubters wrong. Breville Group is an example. The kitchen appliances maker is one of Australia’s great small-cap companies. Breville’s…
A Contrarian View of a Battered Mining Industry
Newcomers to share market investing searching for “how to” advice quickly learn that most investing strategies have mirror opposites. Value investors follow the maxim, “buy low, sell high”. The opposite strategy is growth investing, where the maxim is “buy high, sell higher”. While some might call these trading strategies rather than longer focused investing strategies, trend…
Buying on the Dip
While stock price fluctuations are to be expected, during dire and even simply uncertain economic conditions the fluctuations can be wild, some bordering on the irrational. Such fluctuations often present buying opportunities for investors with an appetite for risk. In today’s market there exists ample opinion to support both a Bear outlook and a moderately…
As temperatures rise, tropical forests absorb less CO2
By Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Alexia Attwood, The Conversation Rising temperatures are linked to a decrease in carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption by tropical forests, according to a 50-year study published today. Greenhouse gases, such as CO2, contribute to global warming, sea level rises and extreme weather events, previous studies have shown. Forests absorb CO2…
The Next Boom
We’ve had an Asia boom, a tech boom, a biotech boom and a resources boom: where next? Booms in various sectors come and go on the stockmarket. In recent years we have seen the great tech boom of 1999-2000, the China boom, a flurry of interest in biotech stocks, and then a succession of commodities…
Perma-QE: Lessons from Bernanke’s Latest Splurge
AFTER months of “quanticipation”, the Federal Reserve has finally done it. Ben Bernanke yesterday announced another round of asset purchases. The much-vaunted third round of quantitative easing (QE3) is now a reality. And this time it’s permanent (or, at least, open-ended). First, let’s get the details out of the way: • The Fed will buy…
The Next Big Thing – The Gas Revolution And Stocks To Watch
As the global economic outlook remains uncertain and the purveyors of doom reign supreme, more people are taking their money out of equities and putting it into gold, bonds, term deposits, and perhaps even under the mattress or buried safely in the garden. Yet investing history seems to tell us equities win out in the…
