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22 May 2026
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For investors seeking a combination of future earnings potential and favorable valuations, the Franklin Templeton Institute suggests looking toward emerging markets. While US stocks have historically dominated in performance and earnings growth, the landscape could be shifting.
For investors, demographics are a driver of country risk, and they can impact productivity, economic growth, sovereign financials and debt ratings. Demographics are not destiny, but they do set parameters.
The US economy shows strength, with a tight job market and solid wage growth, while the European economy remains stagnant, and both central banks are looking for continued evidence of lower inflation before starting their easing cycle.
Reflections from Franklin Templeton’s latest Industry Advisory Services Annual Survey, which aims to help investors understand how the wealth and investment management industry is changing and better prepare them for the future.
Trees are an appropriate metaphor for investing. When nurtured, they grow gradually but inexorably. Upon maturity they yield their bounty—shade, nuts and sweet fruit. Yet some trees withstand adversity better than others.
Arguably, humanity’s greatest current challenge is the need to shift to low and net-zero carbon in a little less than 30 years. These challenges create investment opportunities as investors have a critical role given the capital required to fund this transition.
A return to indexation of capital gains would be a fairer way to compensate households for the effects of inflation than the current discount. Importantly, it opens the door to future, broader reforms to stop the taxation of inflation.
Australia may not levy formal death duties, but a growing web of tax measures is quietly shaping what wealth passes between generations. Now, the 2026 budget adds another layer.
From oil shocks to fractured alliances, the Iran war carries the hallmarks of a historic policy misstep - one that could tip an already fragile global economy into crisis.
Marketed as a fix for inequality and housing affordability, the latest budget instead delivers a tangle of tax changes that leave everyday Australians worse off.
Copper has had a rough few weeks but investors should not ignore the potential for future price increases as supply increasingly falls behind demand.
The budget’s property tax reforms are being framed as fairness measures, but they risk splitting the housing market, penalising lower‑income investors and introducing distortions that may prove costly.
The vast and opaque world of private assets is a powerful gravitational force - and when trouble hits, it's the more liquid public equities that often the feel it first.