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2 April 2026
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For the first time in decades, the Big 4 banks have real competition in home loans. Macquarie is quickly gain market share, which threatens both the earnings and dividends of the major banks in the years ahead.
The dominance of mega-cap stocks in the US has led to strong index performance and a new wave of passive investors. Australia's markets might not be so suited to this approach.
The tightening of credit conditions for home lending driven by the Royal Commission has not fully translated into aggregate statistics, and the slowdown may already be worse than we realise.
Long-term earnings matter the most to stock prices over the long run. Trying to time short-term fluctuations is folly, but we can pick the times when movements are disharmonious with earnings.
Liquid, large share markets are generally efficient, but events at a company, sector or economy-wide level can create opportunities when the market over reacts. It pays to be patient.
The ASX’s top 20 companies as a group performed poorly last year, due in part to the cost of purchasing those shares. This begs the question, just because an investment is conventional, is it by definition conservative?
Stay on top of the latest changes to superannuation rates and thresholds for 2026, including increases to transfer balance cap, concessional contributions cap, and non-concessional contributions cap.
In a shift away from solely targeting low inflation, central banks are considering raising inflation targets to combat economic challenges, but face potential drawbacks and conflicts in policy implementation.
The perceived underperformance of LICs compared to ETFs is due to existing comparison data excluding crucial information, highlighting the need for proper assessment and transparent reporting.
New research shows smarter portfolio construction—not new factors—is the real edge in the hunt for alpha. However, finding it requires a fundamentally different mindset.
Many 'diversified' portfolios are increasingly driven by the same narrow set of forces. As concentration builds beneath the surface, understanding how portfolios behave - not just how they’re constructed - is critical for investors.
Rising oil prices and inflation pushed Australian yields higher. Markets expect further tightening, but weaker growth may reverse rates. Locking income and maintaining duration is a sound strategy for widening credit spreads.
Investors often focus on front-of-mind risks, reacting to each headline event without considering long-term impacts. Cass Sunstein and Timur Kuran define this as an "availability cascade," affecting financial decision-making.