At Harvest Financial Group, we’re continuing to monitor the evolving situation of Coronavirus ‘s impact on financial markets and people. In order to contain the spread of the very contagious Coronavirus (aka COVID-19), governments around the world are taking extraordinary measures to limit person-to-person contact within their populations, which in turn is taking a great
Interest rate announcement - March 2020This month, in the context of the Coronavirus outbreak and its impact on markets and consumer condfidence, the RBA has reduced the cash rate to a new record low of 0.50%. We expect this reduction to be at least partly passed on to borrowers. The inflation rate is currently
As we write, stockmarkets around the world seem to have finally taken notice of the Coronavirus outbreak. We are seeing headlines like “market tumbles” and “$50 billion wiped off market”. In spite of the virus being regarded as having serious economic consequences for some weeks now, the sell off seems to have been triggered by
Interest rate announcement - February 2020This month the RBA have left the cash rate on hold at 0.75% and continue to monitor the economy closely. The inflation rate is currently 1.7% which is below the RBA’s ideal range of between 2% and 3%. The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme is an Australian
First of all, we would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a happy new year! Throughout 2019, our updates sought to outline and discuss our prevailing view that, despite undeniable existence of several (potentially significant) headwinds, investors should remain cautiously optimistic about the medium to long term prospects for markets. This view
Interest rate announcement - December 2019This month the RBA have left the cash rate on hold at 0.75% and continue to monitor the economy closely. The inflation rate is currently 1.7% which is below the RBA’s ideal range of between 2% and 3%. The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) has
In the 12 months to the end of October, Australian Equities have returned 19.3% (as measured by the ASX 200 Total Return index) and International Equities have returned 15.8% (as measured by the MSCI World ex Australia Index). These exceptional returns, which include the market downturn that occurred this time last year, have brought welcome
