When you think smartphones, almost everyone associates the sector with Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone. That is apart from those rare people who prefer the Android platform or are converts to the more flexible range of Samsung handsets. Based on the US$1 trillion ($1.37 trillion) market capitalisation of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), one simply assumes that it dominates…
Research firm Chant West this week released its superannuation industry report, tracking the performance of both industry and corporate super funds. Not unexpectedly, media headlines were dominated by the sector delivering the strongest returns since 1996-97. According to the firm’s analysis, the median My Super Growth plan delivered a return of 18.0% for the financial…
Investment markets, driven by the proliferation of information and data, appear to be more short-term-focused than ever. Yet the most successful investors are typically those able to look beyond the short term, and identify the most important global and local themes occurring at any given time. An important part of this process is understanding what…
“I am unable to think of any critical, complex human activity that could be safely reduced to a simple, summary equation”. Jerome Powell, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve This quote seems apt given the three months that has just passed. Whether in terms of the impact of the pandemic, government and central bank responses,…
Leading investment bank JP Morgan this month released an article titled ‘Are commodities still a good inflation hedge amid decarbonization’. The piece, penned by Kerry Craig, Ian Hui and Gareth Lam, offers a detailed analysis of what may be one of the most popular ‘reflation’ trades occurring at the present time. One would struggle to…
It has been a difficult for years for the ASX, operationally at least, with a number of high-profile market outages impacting on trading and then the launch of their new website receiving negative feedback. Despite all the headlines the company remained remarkably resilient during the pandemic sell off, recovering short-term losses quite quickly and subsequently…
A recent comment from the chief investment officer of the massive CBUS industry super fund highlighted a theme that is becoming highly prevalent in the industry; the power of momentum. In an interview following what may be a record financial-year performance of around 19%, the CIO mentioned that the fund had made a $4 million…
As highlighted in this article the Listed Investment Company sector has become a major focus of fund managers and investors alike in recent months. Last week, Magellan announced that they will be converting their Magellan High Conviction Fund (ASX:MHH) into an active Exchange Traded Fund or ETMF. This comes shortly after the long-standing Monash Absolute…
Not a day goes by that we don’t hear about the massive semiconductor shortage created by the pandemic. Supply chains around the world which span Europe, Asia the US and most importantly Taiwan are struggling to come to terms with a massive surge in demand for computer chips at a time when the ramp up…
The name is synonymous with investing in Australia, yet Magellan Group remains non-existent in many direct share portfolios. Having been founded in 2006, the group under the leadership of Hamish Douglass has grown to manage over $100 billion in assets and deliver profits exceeding $200 million a year. I’ve always struggled to understand the investment…
