Rising interest rates, falling house prices and persistent inflation may have left many Australians feeling pessimistic about the Australian economy, but not AMP Deputy Chief Economist Diana Mousina.
Most people’s experience of artificial intelligence has been the chatbot: ask a question, get an answer. That use is still growing. What is changing—and what matters for Contrarius’ Funds—is the next layer of demand.
Most people’s experience of artificial intelligence has been the chatbot: ask a question, get an answer. That use is still growing. What is changing—and what matters for Contrarius’ Funds—is the next layer of demand.
Just when you thought the Trump administration had surprised investors into a state of expecting anything, they went and restricted foreign access to Anthropic’s advanced AI models due to national security concerns. Whilst those restrictions were later lifted, the incident highlighted how trigger-happy the US Government has become when it comes to interpreting what’s in the country’s national interests, including across the free markets the US used to advocate for.
We invest for all sorts of reasons, but at the core, it’s to improve our financial lives – to afford the things we want or need in life. This is the reason why the terms ‘yield’ and ‘total return’ can be so important when you are choosing an investment – they are not interchangeable, though they are often confused for being so.
Volatility, market commentators reliably assure us, is a buying opportunity. It is a welcome thought in a difficult market, most popular with those not presently experiencing it.
A stick that falls from a tree is nearly worthless.
Yet for centuries, split pieces of wood helped record taxes, debts and financial claims in England. That sounds primitive until you understand what the tally stick actually solved.
Technology has made investing easier than ever. Australian investors can now buy shares, compare ETFs, research managed funds, watch market videos, read fund updates and place trades from their mobiles.
How well is your fixed income investment portfolio expected to perform during an economic shock? Have you considered what could happen to your portfolio if the wrong things happen at the right time? How defensive will your fixed income investments be in the next economic crisis?
Since the 50% capital gains tax (CGT) discount was introduced in Australia in 1999, many investors have followed a relatively consistent wealth-building playbook: purchase residential property, absorb short-term cash flow losses via negative gearing, and rely on long-term capital growth supported by favourable tax treatment.
It’s almost a certainty that you have invested in a multi-asset portfolio or fund at some point in time. Most of us will spend our whole lives in one – your superannuation is run as a multi-asset portfolio after all. But when it comes to investing outside of super, many investors can also find plenty to like about these options as a wealth solution.
The global space industry is moving from episodic innovation to commercial scale. Falling launch costs, improving rocket reusability, and rising demand for satellite-enabled connectivity and data are changing the economics of space. Once a prestige domain defined by government-led missions, space is now an infrastructure layer for modern communications, geospatial intelligence, defence systems, and emerging compute applications.
Sustainable investing has been through plenty of challenges of late. After a string of political and social backlashes, the return of a US president who appears to be opposed to creating a more sustainable future, a rise in greenwashing cases and a challenging period of relative performance, sustainable investing has become more demanding and, arguably, more useful.
Australia’s GDP rose 0.3% in the March quarter and 2.5% over the year. While that’s not recessionary, it’s hardly exuberant and was once again negative in per capita terms. The main headwinds are subdued household and government consumption, while adverse weather hampered mining production and exports. On a more positive note, there’s been a lift in business investment linked to data centre machinery and equipment.