Pandemic, the markets, and your money | Covid-19 Special Focus

There is currently a lot going on: coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns, market volatility, interest rate cuts, cancelled meetings, oil supply war and the upcoming US election. In short, COVID-19 presented a new variable, one not on anyone’s radar. So what does this mean for your investments, your business and for the economy?

Pandemic fear jolts markets, emergency rate cuts | Covid-19 Special Focus

Panic is in the air. For weeks there was calm, markets have been moving upwards without a hitch and shrugged the coronavirus off with breaking little sweat, but then there is this sudden panic now. The world is watching with concern, and it is unsettling on a human level as well as from the perspective of how markets respond.

Watch out for those pirate funds

A few minutes into trading on the third of February 2020 the ASX released a list of companies whose securities had been suspended from trading for an unacceptable period of time. It was removing their listings from the exchange. Why? Various reasons, but most had gone bust. Many were now shells.

Pandemics versus market performance | Covid-19 Special Focus

Memories of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), Avian Flu and the Ebola outbreaks are being rekindled with the spread of coronavirus and global stock markets are reacting. Let us see how two global equity markets; the S&P 500 and the UK equity market performed around these three significant outbreaks.

Diversification a Great Luxury

New Zealanders are not keen on diversifying. NZX makes up 0.01% of the world’s share market capitalisation, but most New Zealand investor portfolios are overly weighted to the home market. In other words, a New Zealand investor with a strong home bias would have just a 7% allocation to technology, compared to approximately 16% in the global portfolios.

The year that wasn’t

A routine task for financial journalists at this time of year is to write a summary of the year in markets and to survey economists on their expectations for the coming year. But the truth is the market already knows all of that. The headlines, and the views of all the economists and analysts and journalists, are already reflected in today’s prices. They can make educated guesses about the outlook, but they’re still guesses.

The Decade Ahead

It’s that time of year. When everyone starts talking about what will happen next year. Banks. Brokers. Economists. Lunatic gold newsletter salesmen on YouTube. They’ve all got an opinion. The media goes on holidays while those left manning the fort get extra lazy. We’re all subjected to unfiltered astrology calls on financial markets.

Canny View: Super 65 (or 67?)

It may only be over 100 years ago, but life in the 1900s would be considered brutal by today’s standards. Lights in your home might be candle or gas. Fridge, freezer well they didn’t exist. Indoor plumbing? If you were lucky. Things have changed since then. In simple terms every 10 years our life expectancy has increased by 2 years.