Australian economic growth appears to be moderating with consensus growth for 2013 being 2.5% pa. Key drags on growth remain the high $A, some new mining projects being cancelled or postponed, slow credit growth and slowing global growth. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expected to reduce the official cash rate in the next few months to assist in stimulating additional economic activity.
Global share markets have performed strongly for the quarter ending 30 September 2012. Some key developments influencing markets at the moment include: Australian Cash Rate The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has dropped the official cash rate to 3.25% pa mainly due to a softening global economic outlook, slowing growth in China (and the developing world), and the need to stimulate the non-mining sectors of the Australian economy.
Global equity markets continued to be volatile in June 2012. Markets were generally up for the month after a negative month in May 2012. Some key developments influencing markets at the moment include: Fears related to the euro-zone’s debt crisis, eased in June as the pro-austerity party’s victory in the Greek election allayed the fears of
The last financial year has been a disappointing one for both global and Australian shares. For the 12 months to 30 June 2012, global shares returned -5.4% (MSCI World (ex Aust) $A; source: AMP Capital Markets), while Australian shares again underperformed global shares returning -9.6% (S&P/ASX200 Accum Index; source: AMP Capital Markets) over the same
Market Update Global equity markets have performed poorly over April and May due to renewed concerns over Eurozone sovereign debt issues. Key issues remain – will Greece maintain the Euro currency and will Spain be able to continue to meet its debt obligations. Some key developments influencing markets at the moment include: The International Monetary
Market Update Global equity markets continued to perform strongly over February and March boosted by resolution of the latest Greek sovereign debt deal and data indicating that the US economic recovery is gaining some momentum. However, balancing this news has been the slowing of the Chinese economy and a slight reduction in commodity prices which
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
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
