What’s wrong with Australian mortgages?
If you’re paying off a mortgage – or aspiring to – imagine if you didn’t have to worry so much about rising interest rates. That’s already the reality for US home buyers. Unlike in Australia, most mortgages in the US have a fixed-interest rate, locked in for 30 years. Instead of having to wait and…
Metaverse: Does it meta?
The buzz around the “metaverse” has gone into overdrive as the technology that could make it a (virtual) reality draws closer and internet giants make big bets on its success. But is it all it’s cracked up to be? And does it ‘meta’ for investors? This time it could be different We’ve been here before….
Can VW catch Tesla in the electric vehicle race?
Tesla’s vehicle deliveries soared in 2021 but legacy automakers are running a marathon, not a sprint. Tesla raised some eyebrows last month as it unveiled an 87% year-on-year rise in vehicle deliveries to over 936,000. In terms of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), this puts it some distance ahead of its European rivals, including Volkswagen AG…
Why it’s too early for the RBA to pull the trigger
Inflation is picking up in Australia, and there is considerable speculation about what the central bank will do with interest rates in 2022. The Consumer Price Index figures out this week show prices over 2021 rose 3.5%. That increase reflected big jumps in some prices – such as transportation costs, up 12.5% – while other…
Opportunities in the energy transition
The signs of a low carbon economy are almost everywhere in today’s world. As we transition to a low carbon economy, a considerably large investment universe is starting to emerge. Here we identify 8 key investment opportunities as we pave the way for a low carbon world. What a low carbon economy looks like The…
Why investors should care about inflation
Inflation is a hot topic at the moment. We explain what it is and how it affects your spending, savings, loans and investments. Inflation is a hot topic at the moment. But what exactly is it, and how does it affect you and your money? Inflation is making news daily through wage inflation, energy inflation,…
It’s hard for the RBA to walk away from Q4 inflation numbers
There’s no doubt inflation is becoming an issue given the 3.5% annualised growth rate printed today. It’s hard to see how the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) walks away and we reiterate our view last week that interest rates will rise sooner than expected, probably in the second half of this year. The RBA is…
The era of stimulus is over
Former Fed chair Janet Yellen famously said that central bank policy should be like ‘watching paint dry: uneventful, unsurprising and dull. She didn’t get her wish in 2017, when she expressed it ahead of the Federal Reserve’s last attempt to put US monetary policy back on a path to normal. And her successor Jerome Powell…
How using super for housing could cut costs 50%
During the past four decades in which home ownership among Australians aged 25-34 has sunk from around 60% to 45%, home ownership among the same age group in Singapore has climbed from around 60% to 88%. There’s a good chance that’s because Singapore is doing something right. What Singapore has that Australia does not is…
2022 Global Alternatives Outlook
J.P. Morgan Releases 2022 Alternatives Outlook Urging Investors to Embrace Megatrends to Overcome Challenging Public Markets The Alternatives industry’s highly comprehensive report features views from the firm’s 18 investment engines across private credit, private equity, hedge funds, real estate, infrastructure, transportation and timber. January 21, 2022 – J.P. Morgan Asset Management today released its fourth…
