News

Following two years of volatility, triggered by a global pandemic, supply-chain disruptions and the release of massive stimulus that followed, the financial system is in uncharted territory.

Sri Lanka is in trouble. A state of emergency has been called after chaos hit the streets of Colombo. Anti-government protestors stormed into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office hours after he was named as acting president. In response, the Sri Lankan PM has advised the military to “do whatever is necessary” to restore order.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board raised its official cash rate last week for a third consecutive month. The bank has adopted a dovish stance saying future hikes are “not on a pre-set path” and that the economy will likely slow as a result of these hikes.

Most readers will own unlisted assets via their superannuation fund. Here we provide an overview and break down the advantages and downfalls of investing in the asset class.

The beginning of 2022 has marked a significant shift in the market paradigm, with the multi-decade tailwind of falling bond yields, which supported the valuation of ‘long duration’ assets like growth stocks, turning into a headwind. The impact has been far swifter than many expected.

Despite the widespread damage caused by Covid-19, the crisis accelerated the pace of technological advancements along with our ability to adapt to the latest changes. A survey by McKinsey & Co found that Covid-19 sped up the adoption of digital technologies by several years.

One of Australia’s premier alternative real estate investment managers, Qualitas, has secured a A$700m mandate from a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to invest in Australian commercial real estate private credit opportunities on behalf of a new investment vehicle.

With US quarterly reporting season nearly wrapped up, the trend is showing that earnings were better than expected this quarter.

In the latest quarterly data for FY22, both Perpetual and Pendal Group recorded fund outflows of $4.0 billion, Magellan lost $5.2 billion and US$11.9 billion exited Janus Henderson. GQG Partners was the one shining light, recording inflows of US$2.8 billion.

Last week’s effort by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation by raising US rates by another 75 basis points will likely see inflation decline in 2023 and will likely tip the economy into recession.

Among the most interesting comments I’ve heard thus far in 2022 was from an actively managed global fund manager who said something along the lines of “the challenge in 2022 won’t be in outperforming the index, but rather in generating a positive return.” This was evidenced by renowned value manager Platinum’s quarterly results, released last week.

The hunger for sustainable investing continues apace with Perennial winning a $100 million mandate from Mercer Investments for its Better Future small- and mid-cap strategy.