Market Update

This week the Australian market started well, lost ground in the wake of downbeat job figures (Thursday) only to rally late and finish square at close of trading today. It had the potential to be much worse considering figures released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed unemployment jumped from 5.2 per cent to 6.2 per cent in April - the highest since September 2015 - with total employment collapsing by almost 600,000 for the worst monthly decline [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets mostly rose solidly over the last week as progress continued in reopening economies supporting perceptions that economic activity may have passed the worst. Eurozone shares were the exception though and fell as they played catchup to falls in US shares a week ago. Australian shares rose strongly helped by the positive US lead and the Government's move to reopen the economy which saw all sectors gain but with very [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week While shares rose strongly early in the past week, they then fell sharply on the back of bad economic data, profit warnings, increased tensions between the US and China and profit taking after a very strong gain in April. US shares fell 0.2% for the week due to a 2.8% decline on Friday. Eurozone shares were closed Friday so still managed a 4.2% gain for the week. Japanese shares rose 1.9% [...]

Investors reactions to market volatility couldn't be more at odds over the last few weeks. While one cohort has rushed for cash and safety, the other has seized a share-buying opportunity. The divergence in views is of course that some investors see an end in sight and are looking to pick up shares at marked down prices, while others believe the market is expensive in the face of poor economic conditions. All the while, most people are watching from [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets pulled back over the last week as oil prices fell further, not helped by poor economic data. However, the falls were relatively mild compared to the 20% plus rally from the March low point. Property, industrial, retail and health stocks fell the hardest. Bond yields fell in the US but rose slightly in Europe and Australia. Oil, metal and iron ore prices fell and the $A also fell slightly [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets, with the exception of European shares, pushed higher again over the last week on ongoing signs that the coronavirus curve is flattening in a number of countries which is resulting in a move towards relaxing lockdowns amidst promising reports regarding anti-viral drug tests. For the week US shares rose 3%, Japanese shares gained 2%, Chinese shares rose 1.9% and Eurozone shares fell 0.3%. While Australian energy stocks were hit [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets pushed higher again over the past week on the back of a declining number of new coronavirus cases in several countries raising the prospect of a relaxation in shutdowns, as policy stimulus measures continued to provide confidence that the economic downturn may be relatively short and as talk of a cut in global oil production boosted energy shares. While Australian banks were hit on talk of dividend suspensions [...]

The world just passed 1 million COVID-19 infections (Thursday). Tragically 53,000 people have now died, but, more than 208,000 have recovered. The pandemic (declared as such on March 11 by the World Health Organisation) has spread to 181 countries and at least one-third of the world is now under some type of lockdown. In this article 'a complete timeline of the coronavirus pandemic' (click here), Business Insider depicts the most significand events and moments that have defined the pandemic [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Coronavirus concerns continued to create volatility in investment markets over the past week, but the good news is that it remains both up and down volatility on a day to day basis as opposed to straight down as was the case up until a couple of weeks ago. US, European and Japanese shares gave up some of their gains from the previous week, but Chinese and Australian shares rose, with the [...]