Investor Education Articles

Multi-asset funds fell out of favour during the prolonged low-interest-rate environment following the 2008 global financial crisis. However, the landscape shifted post-COVID with heightened economic worries prompting a resurgence in multi-asset strategies.

It’s a well-known fact in investment circles that the pain of a losing money greatly exceeds the positive feelings associated with investment success. The cognitive bias that explains this is called loss aversion.

If you’ve notice the growing popularity of managed funds of late, you aren’t alone. After a challenging couple of years, Australia’s managed fund sector resumed growing its funds under management around eighteen months ago. The recent rally in global equity markets is clearly a key driver.

Corporate bonds are once again popular with Australian and global investors alike. With markets expecting the RBA and the Fed to start cutting rates in the coming months, investors have been increasing their corporate bond exposure to lock in the highest yields available in recent years. We investigate whether or not this is a wise strategy below.

Welcome to the match of the year … it’s growth versus value stocks. The audience are on the edge of their seats. Both value and growth supporters are passionate about their players, and both believe they are on the winning side. To the match … the two teams will be tested against one another on four key factors for a steer as to which style is best positioned to outperform over the remaining three quarters of 2024.

Demographics are often at the heart of long term structural trends which affect a country’s economic and investment prospects. As such, being aware Australia’s demographic trends is an important part of the puzzle for all long term investors. We unpack the key demographic trends at play for investors below.

You may have heard the joke about central bankers … how many central bankers does it take to change a light bulb? None. If the light bulb needed changing the market would have done it already. It won’t surprise you to hear not many central bankers find this joke funny. But what if the light bulb that needed changing was persistent inflation, and what if the market believes it can relax as the RBA has already changed that light bulb?

With global equity markets celebrating the prospect of impending rate cuts by the Fed, some investors have been wrong-footed by the extent of the recent enthusiasm, particularly in US tech stocks. If you’re underinvested and are considering joining the equity party in earnest, it’s worthwhile digging into the market’s Fed fund rate expectations for an understanding of whether market expectations are on point, or not. This situation may well dictate global and Australian equity market performance in the coming months.

Despite the overall bullish trend in equities, there's been a notable surge in cash being held by money market funds with an all-time high in those assets recently reached. In fact, total assets in US money market funds, which invest in cash-like securities such as short-term Treasury bills, grew to $US6.02 trillion last month, with both retail and institutional funds increasing their allocations due to the higher short-term rates on offer.

With the US economy and stock market continuing to drive global markets, Aussie investors increasingly need to understand what’s driving American fund flows. Spoiler alert: it’s not just corporate earnings. There are liquidity drivers at play in the US that are creating remarkably strong feedback loops with stock valuations and the broader economy. Understanding how these liquidity feedback loops work may well provide clues as to what’s coming next for global equity markets, including the ASX…

In recent years, the private equity sector has increasingly cast its fund raising net to include individual investors who are aiming to generate strong risk-adjusted returns over the long term. With more investors considering the private equity opportunities on offer, it’s worthwhile delving into this opaque sector’s unique benefits and challenges.

After three straight months of global equity markets rallying driven by expectations that the Fed has paused its rate raising cycle, volatility is currently unusually and arguably unsustainably low. The historical data suggests it’s unlikely this situation will continue for much longer. In short, it’s probably the right time to prepare for volatility to return in the coming weeks or months.