Weekly Market Update – 27th June 2025
Investment markets and key developments Middle East oil crisis averted so oil down but shares up to near record highs. While the past week started with uncertainty as to how Iran would retaliate against the US strike against its nuclear facilities, things quickly settled down after Iran’s retaliation was seen as merely symbolic and aimed at de-escalation which quickly saw President Trump verbally impose a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. This saw the oil price plunge below levels seen before the war started and shares rebound [...]
A FinSec View – Market Updates, Beating the Super Tax, Mortgage Refinance Surge & more….
13th June 2025 Australian Market Update With the Federal Election in the rear view mirror along with an interest rate cut in late May, Australian financial markets have continued to be strong in recent weeks as if they can see the positive in everything. After rallying in May, the ASX 200 has traded notably higher by mid-June, moving above 8600 points this week, with energy and technology stocks leading the rise. Virgin Australia is also set to return to the ASX later this month (trading [...]
Weekly Market Update – 6th June 2025
Investment markets and key developments I don’t think that a quiet week in markets exists anymore. While there were no specific changes to US tariff rates this week (yay, I was getting sick of updating our tariff chart), Trump and his team never fail to produce material for us to digest. The TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) trade continued (which basically implies Trump just uses tariffs to negotiate so don’t take them too seriously), with shares up this week despite all the background chaos, Trump and [...]
A FinSec View – Market Updates, Super Tax Adjustment, Retirement Risks & more…
16th May 2025 Australian Market Update Our market outperformed the US and global markets in April, rising by 3.6% and being broad-based. This was buoyed by the relatively low direct impact from US tariffs and improved domestic inflation data, which supported expectations for further RBA easing. Commodity prices were mixed, with gold rising sharply and oil prices falling, while the Australian Dollar (AUD) rose against the US Dollar (USD) (maintaining 64 cents since month end) as investors shifted away from US assets amidst the uncertainty. [...]
Weekly Market Update – 9th May 2025
Investment markets and key developments Shares were mixed over the past week. Despite the Trump administration talking up trade deals US shares fell slightly, but Eurozone shares rose slightly, and Japanese and Chinese shares saw strong gains. Given the mixed messages Australian shares fell around 0.1% with strong gains in utilities and IT shares offset by falls in health and finance shares. Bond yields were also mixed – up in the US, Japan and Australia but down in Europe. Oil prices rose but remained around $US60 [...]
Weekly Market Update – 28th March 2025
Investment markets and key developments After a relatively quiet start to the week, news on US auto tariffs has unnerved markets. Prior to this, the US share market had rallied 5% from its mid-March bottom (after having declined by 10% from its high). Over the week, US shares have still managed to rise by 0.5% (so far) with all sectors up except for tech, health and utilities. Australian shares are also up by 0.5% with financials and energy higher, consumer discretionary higher (reflecting more cost of [...]
Weekly Market Update – 21st March 2025
Investment markets and key developments Global share markets mostly rebounded over the last week from oversold conditions helped by an absence of new tariff comments from Trump and as the Fed helped calm recession and inflation fears. While US, European and Japanese shares rose Chinese shares fell though partly due to disappointing stimulus announcements. The absence of new tariff announcements saw the Australian share market bounce around 2% over the last week from oversold conditions with gains led by supermarkets - after the ACCC found no [...]
Weekly Market Update – 21st February 2025
Investment markets and key developments While US shares rose slightly over the last week making a new record high gains were tempered by concerns about consumer spending. Meanwhile shares fell in Europe, Japan, and China. And Australian shares saw a sharp fall of around 3% on the back of disappointing earnings news particularly from the banks and resources companies and cautious RBA comments on the outlook for further interest rate cuts. The falls were led by financials, resources, and retail shares. Bond yields mostly rose with [...]