Looking at your spending in a new light could make a substantial difference to your financial future. The 50/20/30 budget rule works for one main reason – it’s easy. You’re new to budgeting. You know how much money you make and have a rough idea of how much you spend. But you’re not really sure about what, exactly, you’re spending it on, or if your spending patterns will benefit you in the long run. The …
Key points The rout in financial markets has continued, on the back of coronavirus, made worse by a flow on to oil markets. The risk of a deeper hit to economic activity has risen. Key things to watch are the daily number of new cases, measures of economic stress and policy stimulus. Key things for investors to bear in mind remain that: share market falls are normal; selling shares after a fall locks in a …
Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets had a very volatile week – helped initially by more policy easing globally with both the Fed and the RBA cutting interest rates but only to get hit again by intensifying coronavirus concerns. While Chinese shares briefly made it back to their January high and had a strong week, Eurozone, Japanese and Australian shares fell for the week. The Australian share market got some boost …
International Women’s Day and the art of listening For all the complications of the gender divide in the corporate world, the basics of listening – to clients and to employees – is a simple part of a bigger remedy. The chasm between men and women with pay, workforce representation and economic independence draws a flurry of debate every year, particularly around International Women’s Day. It also creates a lot of noise and distraction from working …
The company earnings reporting season was best described as mixed, but probably better than we feared. The Australian share market hit a new record high in the middle of the reporting season before it got whacked by concerns over coronavirus. The ASX 200 reached a record close of 7,162 points on February 20 before joining Wall Street in a sell off that was fanned by fears over the effect of COVID-19 on the world economy. …
The Reserve Bank board has cut interest rates again by 0.25% at their March meeting, their fourth such cut since June last year. The move comes largely in response to the uncertainty caused by the global outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19), and up until about last Friday I’d have said it was a close call as to whether the bank would cut or stay put. The run of soft domestic economic data over the past …
Weekly Market Update 13 December 2019 Investment markets and key developments over the past week The past week saw good news on the geopolitical front with the US and China reaching a Phase 1 trade deal, Congressional agreement on the USMCA (NAFTA replacement), Congress averting another US Government shutdown from December 20 and the Conservatives on track for a big majority in the UK’s election. This pushed most global share markets higher, with the exception of …
Weekly Market Update 6 December 2019 Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets were mixed over the last week with falls in the US and Europe on trade war fears and mixed economic data, but Japanese shares rose on fiscal stimulus plans and Chinese shares rose too. The Australian share market fell back from record highs taking its lead from the declines in US shares and worries about global trade but with …
Weekly Market Update 29 November 2019 Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets rose over the last week helped by optimism regarding a US/China trade deal and mostly okay economic data with US shares reaching a new record high. Australian shares also broke out to a new record high helped by the positive global lead with strong gains in telcos, health, energy and IT stocks offsetting more constrained increases in financials with …
Weekly Market Update 22 November 2019 Investment markets and key developments over the past week Most share markets fell over the last week as uncertainty about whether the US and China will agree a Phase One trade deal ramped up amidst a range of conflicting reports. This comes at a time when markets are vulnerable to a consolidation or correction after strong gains since early October has left investor sentiment at elevated levels. Australian shares got …
