Markets

With recessionary fears still dominating the outlook, investors looking to dip their toes into private credit should consider senior secured loans, which offer compelling relative value and added risk mitigation, Invesco said.

Berkshire Hathaway recently added 20.4 million shares of Apple, which now makes up about half its equity holdings. More recent moves suggest Warren Buffett may now be returning to his historical focus on value, via old-school energy investments.

Five per cent on a one-year term deposit will tempt a lot of investors, and with good reason, but equities have proven their worth over the long term. As ever, experts say, personal needs should guide investment selection.

After a punishing innings for her flagship ETF, ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood thinks investors need to stop living in the 70s. This time next year the Fed will be “running in the opposite direction” and deflation will dominate the market, she says.

While active can provides pockets of outperformance both here and globally, research from S&P Global suggests maintaining above-benchmark returns is difficult to maintain.

India’s booming population has many considering whether and how to get exposure to its market, despite its year-to-date underperformance. While it may not be the next China, India’s growth prospects remain attractive, driven by multiple tailwinds, and investors now have more points of access, Mason Stevens says.

Greater efficiencies and technological advances have made platforms integral to investment outcomes, and they are increasingly helping advisers focus more on client relationships by leaving the nuts and bolts up to automated tools, according to a panel of industry leaders.

While commodities proved a safe haven for investors in a brutal 2022, completing a rare two-year run at the top of the asset class returns table, Atchison consultant Kevin Toohey warns against expecting a repeat performance.

Negative-yielding debt topped US$18 trillion at its height in late 2020, representing a quarter of global bonds outstanding at the time. With the stock of negative-yielding bonds now yielding in the positive, owners of the debt face ugly marked-to-market losses – but counter-intuitively, there were investors willing to buy them.

Credit and equity markets both suffered a very bad 2022, as the collapse of negative correlation between stock and bond prices left no safe haven for investors. But 2023 could be a big year for bonds, and experts say investors waiting on the sidelines risk missing out.

Debt assets may be de jour, but the income they produce is fraught with peril if it doesn’t include the kind of diversity senior secured loans provide.

Thing are looking up for retailers, and especially groceries providers, as higher prices drive profits. But the roads won’t be paved with gold to Woolies and Coles forever.