us market

Legendary investor Jeremy Grantham has called bubble on the longest bull market in history. In a searing client newsletter, ‘Waiting for the Last Dance’, Grantham says current market conditions that feature “extreme overvaluation, explosive price increases, frenzied issuance, and hysterically speculative investor behavior” bear all the hallmarks of a last-gasp bubble expansion. The founder of…

by Johann Plé* In July, US President-elect Joe Biden announced plans to spend US$2 trillion (A$2.74 trillion) to progress the use of clean energy in areas including transportation, electricity generation and construction over the next four years. As part of a group of proposals designed to tackle the growing threat of climate change across the US, this was the first such major commitment from a US leader –…

Global fund back-office connector, Calastone, has sold a majority stake to US private equity player, The Carlyle Group. In a release last week, the UK-headquartered Calastone said the deal would see Carlyle acquire most current shares including those held by venture capital firms Octopus Ventures and Accel. Post the takeover, Calastone management, headed by Julien…

ASX struggles higher, rates on hold, giant gold merger, US stocks fall The ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) struggled to a 0.3% gain on Tuesday, the energy, +2.3%, and materials sector, +1.1%, the key contributors. The biggest news was the ‘merger of equals’ between Australian gold miners Saracen Minerals (ASX:SAR) and Northern Star Mining (ASX:NST). The merger…

Before last week’s positive COVID-19 test, there was little doubt President Trump was on the comeback trail. Amid signs of an economic recovery, positivity around hopes for a vaccine, and progress on another fiscal stimulus package, all was looking up for a second term. Then came the ‘Presidential Debate,’ in which Trump brought Democratic candidate…

There is a US$550 billion ($764 billion) market that is rarely considered by Australian investors. Convertible bonds (CBs) are barely used locally, while in the US and Europe these are a key component of a growing company’s capital and pension fund portfolios. To appreciate this market, we must consider why CBs make sense for an…

The S&P 500 Index reached a historic high on February 19th of this year, only to break that record less than six months later. On its face this sounds reasonable, however when considering the unprecedented nature of the events that transpired in-between, this is downright shocking. Over this six-month period the S&P 500 realised its…

They say that the first year of a new business is the hardest. Although there were moments when it felt like it might be, it hasn’t turned out that way for Sam Lecornu, Duke Lo and John Lam, partners in new Hong Kong-based Asian fund manager Stonehorn Global Partners. From a standing start in June…