Baby boomers have been the major beneficiaries of rising housing prices over the decades. That does not necessarily mean it’s a good investment decision for them to buy residential property as they near or begin retirement.
A tight labour market and sticky inflation suggests that the Reserve Bank is not about to cut the cash rate. Indeed, it’s more likely the bank will lift it again – good news for those with cash and term deposits.
The Inside Investor Market Update – April 15th
The S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) entered a new bear market on Monday, rallying 1.9% to take its recovery from the 23 March close to over 20%.
The rally was broad-based with:
- Travel-related business Flight Centre (ASX: FLT) up 16%
- Gold miners like Resolute (ASX: RSG) up 15%, and
- Ramsay Healthcare (ASX: RHC) climbing 5%
This has been one of the more difficult to comprehend rallies in our experience.
Shutdown’s Easing
US markets rallied overnight (Dow Jones +2.4%) following the first round of results from JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, as many European Government’s pointed towards an easing of restrictions.
This came as the IMF suggested that ‘The Great Lockdown’ would be worse than the Great Depression, expected Global GDP to shrink 3% for the quarter alone. The ASX will likely move higher again today.
Markets & Earnings
JP Morgan announced its first quarter profit had fallen 69% to $US$2.9bn, primarily due to the provisioning of a further $6.8bn in potentially bad loans; the highest since 2010.
Management expected unemployment to reach as high as 10% and have begun tightening lending standards in contrast to the Federal Reserve’s easing policy.
