Support to fossil fuel research is more than apparent
Australian governments direct billions to fossil fuel companies. Among the projects funded by Commonwealth and state governments are work on coal ports, railways and power stations, and research into “clean coal” or “coal innovation”. Whether worthwhile or not, this funding is visible and can be debated on its merits, as The Australia Institute has done…
Investor Signposts: Week Beginning 12 July, 2021
Australia: Jobs data is the highlight The highlight in the coming week is the June jobs data. But both consumer and producer sentiment gauges vie for attention. The week kicks-off on Monday when the Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) issues the weekly data on petrol prices. And Datium Insights issues the weekly update on used…
ESG investing – Fad or future?
From time to time, investors become irrationally enthusiastic. The important thing to note about these manic moments is that the investment theme underpinning them makes perfect sense. The narratives are rational; it is the market excess surrounding them that is not. In the early 1970s investors became transfixed by a group of seemingly bullet-proof stocks,…
Implications of soaring crude oil prices
Implications of soaring crude oil prices Oil market; Resources Quarterly; Regional migration What happened? Global oil prices posted a fifth straight weekly gain. Brent crude rose by 3.6 per cent to US$76.18 a barrel and the US Nymex added 3.4 per cent to US$74.05 a barrel. Of importance to Australia, the Singapore gasoline price rose…
ETFs solving net tangible asset discount
There are several managed investment structures accessible via the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and Chi-X trading platforms, including Listed Investment Companies (LICs), Listed Investment Trusts (LITs), mFunds, exchange traded managed funds (ETMFs) and exchange traded funds (ETFs). These structures offer various features and benefits that have evolved in response to different market conditions Traditionally LICs…
Why has growth slowed globally?
Even before COVID-19 hit, Australia was experiencing slow growth in GDP per capita and real wages. There has been a distinctly lower rate of both economic and real wages growth since the financial crisis of 2008-09. Advanced economies around the world have, to varying degrees, witnessed the same trends. If anything, Australia has done slightly…
Markets at an inflection point
Investors who decided to “sell in May and go away” were left disappointed as May 2021 saw global equities rally 1.4% and Australian equities rally almost 2% over the month in local currency terms. Over the past 70 years the May to October period has usually been the worst 6-month period for returns but more…
CommSec Daily Report Tuesday
Latest news Aussie shares are slipping for a second day, with the ASX 200 down by ~0.5 per cent to 7,127.7 as most sectors head backwards. While this isn’t the ideal start to a new month, the index hit a fresh record high on Monday, has improved for eight consecutive months for the first time…
CommSec Daily Report Monday
Latest news The Australian sharemarket has had a mixed start to the final trading day of May, with the ASX 200 briefly hitting a fresh record high on the open before falling back at midday. For the first time in14 years, our market is still set to extend its winning streak to an eighth straight…
Why middle-aged entrepreneurs do better
Bill Gates was 21 when he and Paul Allen registered Microsoft. Steve Jobs was 22 when he and Steve Wozniak launched Apple. Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in his Harvard dormitory. The biographies of these tech billionaires who achieved great success in their twenties has helped cement the perception that entrepreneurship is a young person’s game….
