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The ASX 200 finished 1.5% lower following a spike in COVID-19 cases in Melbourne resulting in an extended six-week lockdown. The weakness was exacerbated by record numbers in the US, where a daily record of 60,000 cases was hit.

Despite a strong overseas lead, the ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) paused on Tuesday, pushed marginally lower by the reinstatement of Stage 3 restrictions in Melbourne. A strong lead from the mining sector, particularly gold with St Barbara Mining Ltd (ASX:SBM) adding 10.3% and BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) up 1.3%, wasn’t enough to overcome an afternoon collapse in the property and travel sectors.

The ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) closed above 6,000 points for the third straight day, despite falling 0.7% for the session. Technology was the only positive sector with the major miners the biggest detractors, BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) down 1.7% and 1.0% respectively, amid signs of a rebound in Brazilian exports reported by Vale S.A (BVMF:VALE3).

Too hot, too cold or, just right? It is suggested that this fairy tale has two moral issues, firstly, the sense of entitlement as Goldilocks freely samples the bears’ home and contents and secondly, question of what is ‘just right’. 

What a month, with markets rallying again, capping off the strongest quarter for the ASX in more than 20 years. The technology-focused Nasdaq reached all-time highs and the S&P 500 had its best quarter since 1938. The month continued the ‘changing of the guard’ trend, with the old-fashioned, capital intensive sectors, such as property, energy…

The days of thinking wholly in terms of traditional asset classes when it comes to portfolio construction may have been numbered for some time; in Australia, the Future Fund’s statement of investment policies, when it started its investing life in July 2007, was perhaps the first sign that there could be a new way of thinking, with the usual categories of equities and debt securities subordinated to a distinction between “tangible” assets (defined as property, infrastructure and utilities, in listed or unlisted form); “alternative” assets, considered to include a range of risk premiums (for example, commodities and futures and insurance-based strategies); and skill-based absolute-return investments, or “intangible” assets.

Australia’s Future Fund has named Sue Brake to take on the role of acting Chief Investment Officer at the $205 billion sovereign wealth fund. The fund promoted its former CIO, Raphael Arndt, to the role of Chief Executive Officer. Arndt has served as the Future Fund’s CIO since 2014, delivering exceptional returns, having joined in 2008.

Clients who have put off establishing a self-managed super fund due to the assumed high costs may be put at ease after the Australian Taxation Office released the median cost of an SMSF which is significantly lower than earlier reported figures. The ATO’s 2017-18 Statistical Overview of SMSFs shows the median operating expense of SMSFs…

The $85 billion industry fund for the higher education and research sector has finally filled the position of chief risk officer with the appointment of Andrew Raftis after Ruby Yadav resigned in December 2019. Raftis has over 20 years in compliance roles internationally including chief risk officer at AXA Asia Pacific, chief internal auditor of…

A lot of us spend an inordinate amount of time reading through erudite commentators on anything related to markets. ‘Stay informed’ is a common headline logo. Does this collective wisdom improve investment decisions? The current equity rally has a fountain of opinion on why and what it means. Wordplay is part of the fun: FOMA,…

In in a sign of how fragile this market recovery may be, global markets swung between gains and losses of 1% after White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro initially suggested the trade deal with China was ‘over’. This was only to be retracted by President Trump minutes later via Twitter.

Another day, another global technology rally sending markets higher. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both improved 0.6% but it was the NASDAQ driving market returns improving 1.1% as both Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) and Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) hit new all-time highs.