Economic Overview 2020 will be a year of note in the history books. The problems started pre Q1 when spring 2019 bushfires seemed to rage endlessly in parts of Australia, extending into Q1 and contributing to one of the country’s worst bushfire seasons on record. Hot on the heels of the bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic […]
One of the staples of investment media and stock picking newsletters are the ‘if you had invested…’ stories. The writer will pick a well-known stock, go back to a point in time (usually the IPO) and inform us how many millions we’d have today, if only we’d invested a specific dollar amount into that stock. […]
Economic Overview The spread of COVID-19 had a significant impact on global economies and investment markets in the March quarter. Rarely does any single issue wholly dominate economic and market data for a quarter. Yet COVID-19 arrived and wiped away focus on any other issue. Apart from the oil war, which itself was relegated to […]
Economic Overview The geopolitical risks that dominated for much of 2019 faded in Q4, supporting global share markets. Trade uncertainty faded with the US and China’s phase one trade deal announcement, while economic data remained stable. The trade deal, signed on January 15 means planned new tariffs will not be imposed, while US tariffs imposed […]
Economic Overview It was a mixed quarter and economic data reflected that. Developed markets making small gains while emerging markets fell. The US-China trade dispute rumbled on, as did global growth concerns, but central banks remained supportive with the US, Australian and European Central Banks cutting interest rates throughout the quarter. US economic data was […]