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
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
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
LICs are investment companies that provide an investor or superannuation fund with exposure to professionally managed assets. They are like managed funds but have some key differences. Firstly, they are "closed-end" vehicles - which means they do not regularly issue new shares or cancel shares as investors join and leave the fund. Instead, investors buy and sell
It's been said that cash is the riskiest asset class. But how could this be ? Isn't cash the most liquid asset. Is it not the most stable asset ? Is it not the one asset class that most likely will not have a negative return? There's a featured article ("Risk and the 401k investor: How Plan
Market Update Equity markets have been extremely volatile during July with daily movements of up 2% (both up and down). The financial news continues to be dominated by Global sovereign debt issues. The European community have nearly finalised the second sovereign debt rescue package for Greece. As part of this agreement they have also looked
Author: Christine St Anne is Morningstar's online funds and ETFs editor. This article appears in part from a Morningstar investment newsletter with comment from Harvest. At the beginning of this year, AMP Capital investment strategist Shane Oliver said Australian shares will continue to lag global shares. The high Australian dollar and monetary tightening, both
