The term “hold on for dear life” came to explain the events of 2020 and 2021, as did “buy the dip.” For those beginning investing for the first time, their experience couldn’t have been more positive. Every fall in the market was followed by another rally, and the prevailing view was that markets always go up if your holding period is long enough.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished at the highs of the day on Thursday, up 53.5 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 6648.0. The broader All Ordinaries rose 52.6 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 6836.9. A 1.9 per cent rise in Singapore iron ore futures, to $US113.30 a tonne, helped the big miners, with BHP up…
A tech rebound – possibly a dead-cat bounce – tried to drive the Australian market higher on Wednesday, but the concerns on commodity prices more than outweighed this. By the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 had shed 34.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 6,594.5, while the broader All Ordinaries surrendered 33.8 points, or 0.5…
Price-to-sales ratios were viewed as something of a badge of honour by many in the venture capital and technology sector in 2020 and beyond. While those intricately involved in the sector couldn’t predict the future, the sheer number and successful listing of hundreds of tech unicorns in 2020 and 2021 may well have marked the end of this valuation measure.
As widely expected, the RBA raised the cash rate by 0.5 percentage points yesterday, taking it to 1.35%, as widely expected. This is the fastest back-to-back increase in rates since increases of 0.75% and 1% in November and December 1994 respectively. But the RBA remains upbeat on the economy and employment, despite remaining concerned about…
The Australian share market ended in the green on Monday, despite investor skittishness ahead of today’s Reserve Bank board meeting. The central bank is widely predicted to lift its cash rate by another 50 basis points today, which would take it to 1.35 per cent, in the intensifying effort to rein in surging inflation, which…
The Australian market started the session on a positive note, moving as much as 1 per cent higher on the first day of the new financial year but ultimately sank to a 0.4 per cent loss. The realisation that an interest rate-driven slowdown in the global economy may hit commodity demand saw both energy and…
Australia has thus far remained relatively immune from the inflation challenge occurring around the world, but the 5.1 per cent CPI result in May was met with significant concern from the central bank. While the majority was explicable, being rolling impacts on energy, education and property costs from the pandemic, the Reserve Bank has responded in the same way as most of its global counterparts.
The latter half of 2021 and the majority of 2022 have been among the most challenging periods for investors in several decades. The traditional balanced portfolio, defined as one that holds 40 per cent of assets in government bonds and 60 per cent in indexed equities, is on track for the sixth-worst beginnings to a year in the last century.
The local market managed to deliver another strong day, the S&P/ASX200 finishing 0.9 per cent higher. Five sectors were lower, albeit only slightly, with consumer discretionary the biggest detractor on concerns that higher interest rates will cut disposable incomes. This sent the likes of JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) and Zip Co (ASX: ZIP) down 3.9 and…
