Market Update Global markets have kicked off 2012 in a positive fashion. After a poor 2011 there seems to be a cautious optimism flowing through to equity markets. Some significant developments influencing markets at the moment include: US corporate reporting for the quarter ending 31 December 2011 was reasonable, although slightly below expectations. Australian corporate
Market Update The 2011 calendar year was a poor year for equity markets. The ASX 300 returned -11% for the year. During December global equity markets held up largely due to: the EU (excluding UK) agreeing to stricter government deficit rules (to reduce the rate of growth of sovereign debt). US economic indicators pointing to
Volatile and unpredictable events were the hallmark of calendar 2011. A combination of concerns over US debt and unemployment, European sovereign debt, currency values, issues relating to the stability of the European banking system and questions over continuing Chinese growth rates; all weighed heavily on the minds and decisions of investors. Political instability in the
Data compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the current Australian population heading towards 23 million (jn fact it is 22,699,750 at the time of writing). The most populous state ? New South Wales (with 7.27 million people), followed by Victoria (5.58 million), then Queensland (4.45 million). The median age of an Australian is
Market Update: The month of November has been dominated by European Sovereign debt crisis. The key issues at the moment can be summarised as follows: The total debt of most EU countries is growing as governments continue to run budget deficits, Any significant measures to reduce the budget deficit are likely to slow economic growth
Market Update: After a very difficult start to the financial year, Global equity markets are up significantly in October 2011. The Australian market is up around 8% for the month. The main influence driving markets has been some positive resolutions last week by Europe’s leaders to combat the Sovereign debt crisis. Key initiatives agreed to
There has been growing interest in ETFs and Harvest has been asked a number of times recently, "what is an ETF?" The Australian securities Exchange (ASX) defines ETFs as "investment funds, traded on an exchange, that invest in a basket of securities or other assets that generally seek to track the performance of a specified
Interesting data released by Commsec [Investor Signposts, 11/9/11] about the relationship between the Australian and U.S. stockmarkets: " One thing has become abundantly clear over the past few months. When there is turmoil, the Australian sharemarket will slavishly follow the US. But in times of calm, the Aussie market will go its own way.
The volatility that we've seen in investment markets in recent months is enough to test us all. With the values of our superannuation (on paper at least) going up and down (mostly down in more recent times), we, as investors, are being sorely tested. The decisions we have made regarding our tolerance to risk [i.e. how much
Market Update: Equity markets have performed poorly for the financial year to date (i.e. 1 July 2011 to 26 September 2011). The main issue affecting markets is the risk that the current European and US sovereign debt crisis will cause a second Global economic recession. Recent economic news has reinforced that the expected rate of
