September 2018
Paul Glass: Why business confidence has fallen
New Zealand business confidence has fallen to levels last seen during the Global Financial Crisis. While the magnitude of the decline is hard to explain, as economic conditions are clearly far better than during the GFC period, the direction is far easier to understand. Some commentators have blamed the decline on businesses […]
5th October 2018
Key developments
In September we saw a continuation of the theme of low local interest rates in New Zealand, in a broader global environment where bond yields overseas have crept higher. This provided support for the local fixed interest and equity markets, while the NZ dollar remained at its recent low levels.
The tone in global markets has remained relatively cautious, with worries about trade tensions, pockets of strain in emerging markets and wobbles in […]
Harbour Asset Management Limited Appoints Chris Di Leva as Multi-Asset Specialist
Harbour Asset Management (Harbour) is delighted to announce the appointment of Chris Di Leva CFA® to a new role as Multi-Asset Specialist based in our Wellington office from 10 October 2018.
Chris joins Harbour from Mercer (NZ) Limited where he has worked since 2011. Most recently Chris was a Portfolio Manager in Mercer’s investment business where he developed multi-manager portfolios, formulated dynamic asset […]
Mint Investor Education Series: How reducing volatility can sharpen returns
Fear is back.
After years of unnatural calm on global share markets, 2018 began with a sharp reminder that prices can rapidly travel in more than one direction.
Indeed, the most-quoted indicator of investor anxiety – the US stock market Volatility Index (VIX) – went off the charts in the first quarter of the year. The VIX, which tracks the expected near-term price swings of the […]
Portfolio review
The Fund fell 1.0% in September, trailing global markets for the month (0.4%). Global markets were up 0.3% in USD terms, with a small fall in the Australian dollar providing the difference.
Global equities had a mixed month, with fears of Emerging Markets contagion offsetting the positives from stronger US macro data. Japan (+2.3%) outperformed while the […]
The Deal on the Dollar: Divergence
Francis A. Scotland – Director of Global Macro Research
Bad things tend to happen when the U.S. dollar rises too much. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of that lately, with most of it playing out in the emerging world, at least so far. The dollar is up a little more than 7% against other major currencies this […]
Market Commentary
September saw the New Zealand market hang onto its strong August returns, ending the month up 0.4%. Developed markets outside of Australia (-1.3%), all made positive moves with the US (+0.6%), UK (+1.2%) and Japan (+6.2%) up, while Emerging markets fell 1.1%. Over the month, the US led trade wars continued with another $200bn of tariffs introduced on Chinese imports. In response, we saw China introduce rebates on […]
