No international investor can ignore Asia
The investment world’s slow awakening No international investor can ignore Asia; it is home to some of the world’s largest markets, fastest-growing economies, largest middle classes, and most innovative companies. In short, it is full of opportunities. Yet the investment world’s view can easily distort our perspective of the region. Asia accounts for 36 per…
Best of breed offshore earners
Long-suffering Aussie investors have only to gaze afar in admiration at the outperformance of share markets in other countries. While the ASX 200 has yet to regain its pre-GFC status, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and Japan’s Nikkei Index have soared. A March 2018 article appearing in Business Insider Australia looked at a…
Robots and algorithms are likely to automate workplaces at a frenzied pace
Believe it or not, a motion to the European parliament recommends that autonomous robots be deemed “electronic persons”. The motion for resolution suggests that self-learning robots, those that make independent decisions and interact freely, be held to have an “electronic personality”.The proposals in the 2017 motion aren’t as bizarre as it might seem because companies…
Foreign investing: Global Consumer Staple Stocks to Watch
They’re the brands we use every day, they’re the colourful staples that compete for our attention on the supermarket shelves, but they’re also part of an investment sector with major potential. The consumer staples sector captures companies selling everything from toothpaste to chewing gum, from chocolate bars to fish-fingers. Garry Laurence, portfolio manager of the…
Global Strategy: Emerging Markets the Best Bet
At first glance, the current environment remains rather favorable for equity investors. Profitability is strong and continues to rise around the world, interest rates are still very low in most countries and valuations don’t yet look excessive, for the most part. But after an exceptionally positive 2017 and a rip-roaring start to 2018, investors have…
A New Lithium War Is About To Begin
It’s the modern gold rush. Around the world, the most sought-after mineral isn’t a precious metal, nor is it oil and gas…it’s lithium.Lithium, or ‘white petroleum’ as some call it, has become a crucial element in today’s high-tech economy.Demand for lithium is soaring, and producers are frantically searching for new sources of supply. Prices have…
Protecting your portfolio from major downturns
By Michael O’Dea, Head of Multi Asset, Perpetual It is nine years after the global financial crisis but we still have ultra-low interest rates. This is great if you are a borrower, but not if you are a saver. If you avoid risk today and invest in interest rate products (cash, term deposits etc), your…
Why global equities?
By Magellan Group Australians have heavily tied their financial fates to Australian equities. Australian stocks have certainly proved to be good investments over the past two decades. The industrialisation of China boosted commodity prices, which has helped Australia’s economy expand continuously since the early 1990s. Our banks and mining stocks, in particular, thrived. But is…
The economics of ridiculously expensive art
What would possess someone to buy Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi for US$450 million? You might think it’s an investment – after all it was previously sold for just US$10,000 in 2005. From an economic point of view, art can be an investment. Although the research shows art investing has mixed results. Art also has…
