ETFs

The Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) sector has seen stellar growth in recent years: after finishing 2020 at $94 billion, it likely surpassed $100 billion in assets under management in early 2021. As is the case for many aspects of financial markets, the structure, opportunities and purpose of these funds seem lost on the army of…

Renewable energy is in the spotlight and the battery technology supply chain is key to the transition. Wind and solar energy are forecast to supply around 48% of world electricity needs by 2050, with battery technology, gas peakers (turbines or engines that burn natural gas) and dynamic demand anticipated to drive market penetration of solar…

The exchange traded fund sector moved from strength to strength in 2020, seeing massive flows from retail and professional investors alike. They have also been among some of the best performing investments for the year. Yet with such a great diversity of opportunities available to even the most inexperienced investors, it has never been more…

There has been a lot written about the GameStop saga in the last few weeks. I want to discuss the medium-term market impacts rather than moralising about who is right and wrong. While I doubt it marks the top of the current market, there are some concerning signs. Quick background  The wallstreetbets forum on Reddit spawned several short…

Vanguard this week released its ETF Quarterly Report highlighting some of the key trends emerging from the fast-growing ETF sector. The analysis covered every exchange-traded fund on offer, including the reasonably new “active ETFs” such as those issued by Magellan, Munro Partners and Loftus Peak. It was another quarter of records, with the sector seeing…

With the onset of COVID-19 and the lockdowns that followed, the move to digital accelerated, becoming a shift of necessity rather than choice. The move occurred almost seamlessly. Bricks-and-mortar retailers shifted online, triggering a move to digital with buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) vendors popping up offering solutions to replace physical cash. This is just one example…

The highly successful team at New York-based ARK Invest – led by CEO Catherine Wood, who many call the modern-day “growth” version of Warren Buffett – is launching a new space exploration ETF, under the code (NYSE: ARKX). The company is known for operating the largest actively managed ETF in the world – the Ark…

Brisbane-based equity manager, Hyperion, has once again topped the table of equity managers covered by independent research house Morningstar. The group swept three categories for its outstanding performance in 2020, in large-cap Australian shares, small-cap Australian shares and large-cap global shares. According to Morningstar the funds in order returned 33.3%, 33.7% and 46.0% respectively in…

In a year of pandemic-forced lockdowns, record high government spending, lower corporate earnings and zero growth in interest rates, asking for a high dividend is a little Oliver Twist-like: “Please Sir, I want some more.” Even the most reliable of “reliable” dividend-paying companies ditched or lowered their dividend payouts because it simply wasn’t feasible to…

Self-directed investors are increasingly aware and educated about their investments, if ETF trading activity during COVID-19 is any indication, says Kanish Chugh, head of distribution at issuer ETF Securities. Presenting the latest edition of the ETF Securities Australian ETF Landscape Q4, Chugh adds “In just over three years, the Australian ETF market has doubled its…