Many in retirement are travelling comfortably, with three key factors contributing to their happiness – good physical and mental health and enough money to enjoy life.
Perhaps the assumption that markets are still anchored by predictable economic policies needs to be challenged. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, political volatility – once background noise – is potentially reshaping investment risk at a structural level.
Inside Investor Morning Report – Apr. 17th
The S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) fell on Thursday, taking the US lead to fall 1%, driven primarily by the banking sectors as investors become wary of the need for greater loan provisions.
Toll road operator Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) (-4.1%) was the first to release quarterly traffic figures, reporting volumes fell 5% across the business and between 5 and 6% for their core Melbourne and Sydney toll roads.
Overnight, US markets rebounded by less than 1%, with the technology heavy NASDAQ improving 1.7% as investors moved back into the mega cap technology companies including Microsoft Corp, which we covered recently.
Microsoft announced it had won a competitive tender to deliver cloud computing and AI to the National Basketball Association, the world’s largest basketball league.
Many countries around the world are beginning to discuss the road map to come out of the COVID-19 lockdowns, but there is no clear option on the table.
President Trump confirmed he would be leaving it up to State Governors, whilst PM Scott Morrison confirmed Australia’s preference for a stronger testing and tracking regime to be in place before any restrictions are lifted in mid-May. The news sent discretionary retailers down with JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) and Harvey Norman (ASX: HVN) falling 5% respectively.
Chinese GDP growth figures will be released today, and whilst recent export results were better than expected (-6.6% vs. -13.9%) there is unlikely to be any good news with the consensus being a -6.5% fall.
