The Fed doesn’t rock the boat… for now

This month has been a busy one as lockdowns hit New Zealand once again. However, neither the spread of the Delta variant in the US nor the latest lockdown here have dented market confidence.
While lockdown is a costly exercise in many ways, we’ve been here before and have the playbook for how people behave once the cell doors open.
Back to the US, the Fed remains everyone’s friend kicking the can down the road again for tapering and rate hikes. Tapering end of this year, no hikes until late 2022. Ahhh the market loves a dovish Fed, especially when they were concerned going in. We might yet get a decent correction in 2021, but it doesn’t look like it will come from a Fed policy error or Delta. Epsilon perhaps? US-Sino tension? Who knows – perhaps just the people who make their predictions public after the fact.

August another strong month
August was another very strong month for the Australasian team, with our funds performing well. Australasian Dividend Growth, Emerging Companies and Growth 2 funds were up 5% or greater for the month.

Vaccination on the rise
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … enter August, enter Delta, enter lockdown. Again. We’ve had it pretty good the past 18 months or so, so it’s a little hard to complain. Even being locked down in NZ ain’t that bad, especially when you compare it to other parts of the world. The big positive I’m taking out of this lockdown is that it’s raised us out of our apathy, tardiness and ignorance to go out and get vaccinated, in our droves. Well done New Zealand, about time! Nothing like a bit of real life fear to get moving. It will be interesting to see at what point this levels off. How compliant are we as a nation? The experience with most other Western countries is that 65% vaccination rates is where it tops out.

Annual Report is available
The Pie Funds Management Scheme Annual Report is now available. This document outlines important information about our funds for the year to 31 March 2021. The Annual Report is available on the Pie Funds website, under Investor Documents, then Scheme Documents. You can request a copy free of charge by emailing clients@piefunds.co.nz

As always, thank you for your support. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call me on (09) 486 1701, or email me, mike@piefunds.co.nz.

Mike Taylor, Founder and CEO

Information is current as at 31 August 2021. Pie Funds Management Limited is the manager of the funds in the Pie Funds Management Scheme. Any advice is given by Pie Funds Management Limited and is general only. Our advice relates only to the specific financial products mentioned and does not account for personal circumstances or financial goals. Please see a financial adviser for tailored advice. You may have to pay product or other fees, like brokerage, if you act on any advice. As manager of the Pie Funds Management Scheme investment funds, we receive fees determined by your balance and we benefit financially if you invest in our products. We manage this conflict of interest via an internal compliance framework designed to help us meet our duties to you. For information about how we can help you, our duties and complaint process and how disputes can be resolved, or to see our product disclosure statement, please visit www.piefunds.co.nz. Please let us know if you would like a hard copy of this disclosure information. Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Returns can be negative as well as positive and returns over different periods may vary.