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7 May 2026
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Despite the perception that successful investors nimbly navigate each zig and zag in the market, the evidence suggests otherwise. This approach can help an investor avoid self-harming their returns.
When looking at long-term equity index charts, it’s easy to forget the individual stocks underpinning the indices don’t move as a unified block. This has important implications for how you try to extract returns from markets.
A growing number of Australians are choosing to hedge their international equity exposures. Currency movements are difficult to predict so investors should treat currency hedging as a way to manage risk, not to add return.
Financial markets have been volatile of late, and it's tempting for investors to seek shelter in cash for some or all of their nest egg. While that may seem a sensible strategy, it can also be a costly one.
An index rebalance occurs when the composition of an index changes. Fund managers must buy and sell stocks to match the rebalanced index and to achieve their index-tracking objective, but there are consequences.
Popular belief is that all index funds are the same, but it pays to follow this framework, which shows there is more to consider than the cheapest management cost. Replicating an index is not easy.
Global equity markets have grown more correlated due to globalization, but this trend may reverse which boosts the benefits of cross-country diversification.
Research highlights the significant impact of excluding housing income from income inequality analysis in Australia, arguing for the inclusion of imputed rent and capital gains to provide a more accurate picture.
The lithium rally mirrors the early-2010s tech stock surge, with demand set to double by 2030. Supply has been slow to respond, creating a market deficit for future tech like humanoid robotics and solid-state batteries.
Increasing our official cash rate contrasts with almost every other developed country in the world. Canada, UK, Europe, and USA, so far, have not reversed recent cuts while their inflation issues appear to be contained.
Around the world, democracy as a system of government is backsliding. After more than 50 years of liberal democracy in ascendancy, democratic progress plateaued around the turn of the century and is now going backwards.
Financial commentators await the federal budget with focus on debt and deficit. 'Off-budget' accounting alters the fiscal picture with unseen programs.
Ashley Owen's abridged monthly snapshot uncovers what is front of mind for investors around the world and his view on the likely outcome of the stand-off in the Middle East.