Recovery expected, but risks remain
Against a backdrop of the ongoing pandemic, tighter regulation in China, and the prospect of reduced policy support from global central banks, 2021 has not been without its risks. However, as we look to the new year, we see opportunities for careful, bottom-up stock pickers in a wide range of industries across Asia. Fidelity’s Matthew…
Challenges for Australian listed companies
Rising prices, largely driven by the increasingly inflationary environment, are creating challenges for a range of Australian companies. Combined with the transition underway in the energy market, it adds up to a market that benefits from careful stock picking. Changes to the banking status quo The big four may need to be renamed. For so long,…
Sector spotlight: Supply chain inflation
With the inflation debate well and truly established as an investment theme, we spoke to Australian supply chain insiders to get a snapshot of exactly what is going on in their businesses. Perpetual SHARE-PLUS Long-Short Fund Portfolio Manager Anthony Aboud takes us through the findings. Fund manager quarterlies and stock broking strategy pieces are coming…
Could inflation be the painful hangover of excessive policy?
When Freddie Mercury penned the eventual smash hit “Don’t Stop Me Now”, little did he foresee how the lyrics and growing song popularity would be analogous to market conditions today. Originally released in 1978 on the group’s album Jazz, the song only reached 86 on the USA’s top 100. Forty years later, “Don’t Stop Me…
What is Bitcoin’s fundamental value?
As it hits new highs, there is no shortage of bold predictions about Bitcoin reaching US$100,000 or more. Often these are based on not much more than extrapolations by people with vested interests: the price has gone up a lot so it will keep going up. If it gets above its previous high, it must…
Healthcare’s Role in the Fight Against Climate Change
With a long-term approach to sustainability, hospitals and healthcare systems can help create a healthier planet—and healthier people. Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, droughts and wildfires can wreak havoc on the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. The resulting power outages, emergency evacuations, transportation disruptions…
Unsustainable markets the new abnormal
Ferris Bueller would be proud. The RBA’s day off set the cat amongst the pigeons. That free market interest rate pricing bore no resemblance to the market price should have been obvious. It did not stop those accustomed to turning up at the auction every day to sell their overpriced bonds to an overly enthusiastic…
Australia’s strange W-shaped recovery
The Reserve Bank has used Friday’s quarterly assessment of the economy to declare that lockdowns have “delayed but not derailed” Australia’s recovery. It says economic activity probably contracted 2.5% in the three months to September, but the December quarter (the one we are in now) will regain most of what was lost, leaving the economy…
Will Australia see a volatile recovery?
The rotation to an economic recovery favouring value stocks continues but risks loom on the horizon. Perpetual’s Head of Equities, Paul Skamvougeras, looks at the lessons learnt from reporting season and the trends he expects to see as NSW and Victoria reopen. A strong August reporting season for our portfolios vindicated many of our positions….
Understanding the global energy crisis
Far from emerging from the COVID shock awash with fuel, as might be expected after an economic slowdown, the world is entering a new energy crisis the like of which hasn’t been seen since the 1970s. European and Asian gas prices are at an all-time high, the oil price is at a three-year high, and…
