Australian Investment Education

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of events and headlines for markets to digest. Performance has been mixed and headline to headline trading has returned to the fore as investors’ nerves have become challenged by the uncertainty of change What is Major and what is noise? The Major factors to consider are the prospects for Brexit and the Fed’s decision to sometime raise US Interest rates. “Brexit” is the term given to the Britain’s possible withdrawal from the European Union. Riding on the wave of populism, giving the voters the choice Prime Minister, David Cameron locked in a date for the vote – next week! The dangers are significant – populism and perception will make the case to leave very strong, in many voters minds. Equally the economic consequences of this are significant, albeit unknown as this is a first. Growing up and starting my career in the UK, my perceptions may be a little jaded, but on the surface, what was the EEC (Now EU) has changed imm

 There is no question that the start of the year has brought with it, a renewed sentiment toward the stock market. The bulls are back!! As discussed over previous weeks, falling cash rates have no doubt prompted investors to seek returns elsewhere – the market being a logical place. However, this isn’t simply a New Year phenomenon. The Australian Equity markets have risen by more than 19% since June last year. A recent survey of fund managers also showed an increased weighting toward the stock market too, underpinning this move up. So what about further growth for the Australian Equity Markets? Looking at some of the benchmark stocks we follow, Wesfarmers (owner of Coles, Bunnings, Kmart et al) reported stronger customer levels over the Christmas period. In its announcement today, sales for the 6 months to December, were up 4.7% on last year with similar gains in liquor sales too. Bunnings also posted similar gains in sales over this time frame. Any revisions up of las

  Don’t panic, stick to your Trading Strategies. The problem with the modern world of investing and trading is that the internet provides everyone with access to see live market prices from computers, iPads, and Smart Phones. What this does, is make them question their trading strategies as they react to short-term price fluctuations. The key is to stick to not panic and react to short-term movements. As a broker, I only hear from my clients when 2 situations occur: 1) When they have made a loss, and 2) When there is a market spike that makes them panic. I rarely hear from clients when they are profitable, or when I have closed out of a profitable position. Without blowing my own horn, it’s needless to say that communication with my clients is quite minimal and mostly during times of uncertainty in the markets. We’ve just seen one of those periods, with the S&P500 index in the US falling 47 points, or 3% from the high of 1,531 on the 20 th February to the low of 1,