Investment market insights
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Quarterly commentary, March 2019
Posted: 30 Apr 2019
Global markets rebound strongly on consumer sentiment following a weak end to 2018. Domestic earnings post strongest quarter returns in almost a decade. Chinese economic policy and optimism in trade truce with the US drive performance in Asia.
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Monthly commentary, March 2019
Posted: 30 Apr 2019
A slowing economy remained a theme over March, while recession risks spooked markets following the inversion of the US treasury yield curve. China delivered on new economic reforms, as the ECB announced renewed liquidity provisions.
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Monthly commentary, February 2019
Posted: 29 Mar 2019
Earnings season at home sees strongest monthly gains in markets since mid-2016. Optimism lifted as the US extends a trade truce with China and progress on the Brexit front.
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Monthly commentary, January 2019
Posted: 20 Feb 2019
Global markets recovered from the tumbles seen in late 2018. Improved sentiment regarding trade talks, US Fed patience, Chinese stimulus and Brexit supported the markets, however global growth has remained subdued and geopolitical concerns remain.
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2018 Year in Review
Posted: 21 Jan 2019
Geopolitical events were the centre focus in 2018 as protectionism has shifted away the trend of globalisation. Global growth slowed through the year whilst markets have seen poor performance and high volatility, particularly in the final quarter.
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Monthly commentary, December 2018
Posted: 21 Jan 2019
Global equity markets continued to fall throughout the month, marking the end to the worst year since the GFC. Economic slowdown fears was a key theme globally in December, as concerns such as the everlasting US-China trade talks, Brexit uncertainty and an oversupply of oil brought instability to markets.
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Monthly commentary, November 2018
Posted: 19 Dec 2018
Uncertainty over US monetary policy, US-China trade relations, the wavering strength of the EU economy, and oil price were in focus during November, further impacting market volatility and the direction of major equity market indices.
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Monthly commentary, October 2018
Posted: 23 Nov 2018
Global employment continued to improve in October, however markets reacted to trade risks, rising bond yields, Brexit uncertainty and concern over Italy's fiscal position.
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Monthly commentary, September 2018
Posted: 05 Nov 2018
Investors remained cautious in September as markets felt the headwinds of rising bond yields, global trade uncertainty and growing debt concerns in Italy.
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Monthly commentary, August 2018
Posted: 18 Sep 2018
Despite positive global economic growth and US equities advancing, markets were hit with mixed results against a backdrop of geopolitics and trade tensions.
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Monthly commentary, July 2018
Posted: 22 Aug 2018
Amidst rising tensions of a full-blown trade war between the US and China, positive earnings results and strong global economic data ensured markets remained robust in July. This was supported by the US economy recording its strongest pace of growth (4.1% annualised) since September 2014.
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2017/18 End of Financial Year Commentary
Posted: 27 Jul 2018
The financial year ended with the global economy experiencing significant levels of uncertainty, including ongoing geopolitical shocks, especially in the second half of the year with highly unwelcome prospects of a trade war. Signs of synchronised global economic growth, led by the United States, accompanied by strong earnings growth, protected the market against the rising trade tensions and political surprises from governments and world leaders.
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Monthly commentary, June 2018
Posted: 27 Jul 2018
Despite healthy growth, a lack of market conviction, along with increasing fears regarding trade wars, has led to increased risks surrounding the future direction of the global economy. In June, US inflation hit the Federal Reserve's inflation target for the first time in 2 years, reaching a coveted 2%.
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Quarterly commentary - June 2018
Posted: 16 Jul 2018
Rising concerns over the possibility of an escalating US-China trade war unsettled global share markets in June. Many market indices fell in the second half of the month, but not by enough to drag all into negative territory. However, between June 12 and the markets? close on June 29, global market capitalisation fell by US$1.75 trillion.
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Monthly commentary, May 2018
Posted: 13 Jun 2018
Geopolitics impacted markets in May with US global trade talks with China and the European Union, the highly anticipated North Korea-US Summit and the US withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran. This was accompanied by Italy's government election and fears of an 'Italexit', sparking volatility in markets and weighing on consumer sentiment. Despite this global equity markets ended the month in positive territory.
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Monthly commentary, April 2018
Posted: 21 May 2018
Global markets mostly managed to rise in April, after starting the month under pressure from China's tit-for-tat response to US President Donald Trump's announcement of tariffs. April ended with stunning progress on the Korean peninsula, with the meeting of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, and indications of a formal treaty between the two nations.
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Monthly commentary, February 2018
Posted: 20 March 2018
Stock markets hit the skids in February, unnerved by a sharp rise in bond yields and volatility that resulted from what looked like good news for the US economy. Sparking the falls was news that average hourly earnings in the US rose by 2.9% for the 12 months to January, much higher than expected (and the fastest rate since 2009), which stoked fears of rising inflation. European and Asian markets followed their US counterparts lower in the first half of February. From mid-month, the markets rebounded, although most ended February in the red.
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Monthly commentary, January 2018
Posted: 19 February 2018
Led by US and Asian markets, world markets roared into the New Year, although late in the month, caution crept back into markets after one of the best starts to a year in recent history. It was the best start to a year for the broad US benchmark, the S&P 500 index, since 1987.
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Monthly commentary, December 2017
Posted: 18 Jan 2018
US equity markets surged into year-end, bolstered by strong global economic growth, healthy company earnings and the passage of President Trump's US$1.5 trillion tax-reform package, described as the biggest US tax overhaul since 1986. In Europe, political uncertainty weighed on stock markets, but economic news continued to impress.
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2017 year in review: political turbulence ... firming growth and bullish markets
Posted: 8 Jan 2018
Both the global economy and financial markets are tracking towards their best year since the initial rebound from the 2008-09 global crisis. All this has been despite a more fractious, and unsettled political backdrop. The pickup has also been undeterred by a continued withdrawal of stimulus from the Fed.
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Monthly commentary, November 2017
Posted: 18 Dec 2017
US equity markets pushed higher in November on the back of solid corporate earnings and synchronised global economic growth, although the European markets retreated in November after two straight months of gains, and the UK stock market fell in November as continued uncertainty in domestic politics outweighed confidence in the UK's economic outlook.
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Monthly commentary, October 2017
Posted: 20 Nov 2017
Markets were mostly stronger in October, contradicting investors' fears that the month of October historically has a predisposition to the negative. Synchronised global economic growth and improving company profits continued to be the driving themes.
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Monthly commentary, September 2017
Posted: 20 Oct 2017
Continued signs that the world economy is growing in synchronisation for the first time in 10 years buoyed world markets in September, with improving economic data in the US, Europe and Japan, while China's managed slowdown continues to be closely watched.
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Monthly commentary, August 2017
Posted: 19 Sep 2017
Geo-political concerns were front and centre over August, with North Korea ramping up its missile test program, and President Trump in turn ratcheting up his rhetoric, saw 'safe haven' assets see plenty of action while markets remianed steady.
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Monthly commentary, July 2017
Posted: 24 Aug 2017
US equities were bolstered by improving corporate profit results and economic data in July, despite ongoing challenges facing the Trump presidency. However, markets across Europe and Australia were more subdued. The US dollar continued to depreciate against major currencies.
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Quarterly commentary - June 2017
Posted: 21 Jul 2017
The June quarter was characterised by healthy gains across US markets, despite a late-quarter technology sell-off, indifferent performance from the European bourses and strong rises across Asia, with the exception of China's Shanghai Composite Index.
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Monthly commentary, June 2017
Posted: 19 Jul 2017
Global equities went into reverse over June as our dollar moved higher at the same time as markets were looking for direction when many indices are at record highs. Losses were centered across Europe while the ASX finished the financial year with a solid 14% total return.
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Monthly commentary, May 2017
Posted: 16 Jun 2017
Global equities rose over May amid signs of improving economic growth and healthy corporate earnings. Several key indices hit record highs as pro-European Union candidate Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election. However, persistent questions about political stability in the US, Europe and elsewhere tempered those gains. Australian equities went into reverse, impacted by concerns of the Bank levy and softer commodity prices.
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Monthly commentary, April 2017
Posted: 17 May 2017
Over the month of April we saw global equities continue their momentum driven rally, shrugging off mixed economic data releases and worries over the outcome of the French election and geopolitical issues surrounding North Korea and Syria.
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Monthly commentary, March 2017
Posted: 02 May 2017
Over the quarter, we saw the majority of equity markets deliver solid gains, underpinned by improving economic data across most developed and emerging markets.
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Monthly commentary, February 2017
Posted: 23 Mar 2017
With twists and turns a continuing theme as we move through Q1, 2017, February finished strongly positive for the major share market indices.
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Monthly commentary, January 2017
Posted: 14 Mar 2017
No doubt the story in 2017 will have its own twists and turns - political, market-related and economic - and expectations may shift, particularly as we start to get more detail around prospective policy changes in the US and a better sense of their ramifications globally.