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This Month

Private equity valuations face a sharrp correction.

Private equity funds face ‘$25b’ valuation wipeout

A global consulting firm has quantified the enormous valuation mismatch that lurks within Australian private equity portfolios.

  • Jonathan Shapiro

January

Earnings growth from small companies could be around 10 per cent per annum over the next two years.

Cyclical stocks poised for a comeback

The resources arena could deliver some of the best small cap performers of the year.

  • Michael Steele
The $TRUMP coin will serve as an online prediction market on the popularity of the Trump government.

Trump makes everyone a winner on bitcoin

The launch of $Trump is a clear signal that the president is serious about leaning into American exceptionalism and driving that innovation on cryptocurrencies.

  • Sinclair Davidson
Political events overseas, including the election of President Donald Trump (pictured) have made a political football of investor sustainability issues.

Big super still supports diversity despite Trump

While political shifts in the US have brought to prominence some loud voices, investments should not be subject to short-term and non-evidential noise.

  • Louise Davidson
Donald Trump, the 47th US president who was inaugurated on Tuesday (AEDT), must now ask himself how bond markets will respond if he follows through on his promises.

Will the bond market intimidate Trumponomics?

Are recent alarm bells a sufficient warning, or will the new president still pursue large-scale stimulus in tax cuts, tariffs, and an immigration crackdown?

  • Jim O'Neill
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“AI-infused companies will continue to be strong, and that includes Salesforce, ServiceNow, GitLab, DataDog and Nutanix,” says Alex Pollak.

17 stock picks from three top-performing fundies

Three Australian fund managers who delivered annualised double-digit returns over the past 10 years share their views on what’s next for listed markets.

  • Lucy Dean
The world’s biggest asset management firm, BlackRock is the latest in a spate of companies to quit the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative.

Why the ESG pushback isn’t about Trump

Large parts of the world want access to the things we take for granted, and that means large amounts of reliable and affordable energy.

  • Patrick Gibbons
Involvement in competitive sports like Tennis is a plus for new traders who have spent years learning to win and lose.

What traders can learn from elite tennis players

Discipline, emotional control and resilience are all skills that professional tennis players epitomise, and skills any aspiring day trader will need to master.

  • Will Bennett
The dominance of small groups of stocks over their respective indices has important implications for investment portfolios.

Double trouble for investors after golden run in banks and big tech

Should Australian investors ride market momentum or confront the risks of concentrated exposure to banks on the ASX and to big tech in the US?

  • Cameron Gleeson
Crypto analysts predict bitcoin could double again this year with the arrival of a pro-crypto Trump administration.

Pension funds dabble in crypto after massive bitcoin rally

Most pension funds have turned to the regulated US exchange-traded funds approved last year, which invest directly in crypto on investors’ behalf.

  • Mary McDougall, Nikou Asgari and Alan Livsey
The return of 10-year Treasury yields to their 14-month highs in recent days has finally hit confidence in even the strongest performers.

The Trump trade looks like a trap

Short of specifically targeting the magnificent seven, it would be hard for any administration to design a trickier sharemarket environment.

  • Jonathan Levin
Notre Dame Cathedral ablaze in 2019.

What if charity shouldn’t be optimised?

The restoration of Notre Dame is viewed differently by those who see value in funding beautiful things and others who believe helping people should be the priority.

  • Emma Goldberg
The risk/reward trade-off on equity markets is very poor right now, with the equity risk premiums near historic lows.

Bond markets punish imprudent politicians as debt spiral looms

While equity markets have been ebullient, we are having the worst bankruptcy cycle in most developed nations since the global financial crisis.

  • Christopher Joye
A man looks up at an electronic ticker board that indicates stock figures at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai, India, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. While economists urge more investment in roads, ports and railways when the Indian government presents its budget Feb. 1, and maybe even direct cash transfers to boost consumption, a splurge carries the risk of a rating downgrade. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg .

How a $4.2 trillion fund was taken for a ride

The scandal shows how brokers and advisers exploit inside knowledge of big trades by multinationals in India’s notoriously leaky equities market.

  • Andy Mukherjee
One of the key features of the internet bubble was a can’t-lose attitude about stocks, wrote Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks.

Can Howard Marks spot a stock bubble twice?

Twenty-five years ago the legendary investor warned about irrational behaviour in dot-com-related stocks. Now, he’s cautioning that valuations are unusually high.

  • Jonathan Levin
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The US-based IMF has argued that the rapid growth of private credit, coupled with increasing competition from banks on large deals and pressure to deploy capital, may lead to a deterioration in pricing and non-pricing terms.

This is where the next financial crisis could emerge

Private funds, which include venture capital, private equity, private debt, infrastructure, commodities and real estate, now dominate financial activity.

  • John Plender
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Does investment research make sense in the age of AI?

We must assume that a few processes can be automated, that some can be enhanced, but that strategic intuition is like a needle in a haystack.

  • Juan Luis Perez
The Future Fund has been strong on the idea that it is hard for active managers to beat the market.

The key questions for investing in 2025

The last time the US equity market realised two back-to-back years of returns in excess of 20 per cent, it promptly plunged 19 per cent.

  • Christopher Joye
Donald Trump’s presidency holds risks for emerging markets.

How will Trump’s policy agenda impact emerging markets?

While the Trump presidency holds risks for emerging markets, the investment opportunity remains too great to ignore.

  • Cathy Hepworth

December 2024

How senior investment professionals fared in their first investments.

My first time: 10 finance executives reveal their debut investments

From a sports car to commemorative stamps, Telstra shares and property in Paris, professionals share how much they made (or lost) on their inaugural outlay.

  • Michelle Bowes

Why investors should be cautiously optimistic about 2025

Against a backdrop of benevolent macro-drivers, investors may need to confront a new set of forces.

  • Scott Haslem
It was Donald Trump’s victory in November that truly turbocharged the market, sparking a record-breaking rally.

The 11 wild trades of 2024: Booms, busts and a 2900pc windfall

As the trading year draws to a close, here are the biggest ups and downs, as told by reporters from all corners of world markets.

  • Bloomberg News
Hejaz Financial Services co-founder Hakan Ozyon.

Meet the $3b Aussie wealth manager you’ve never heard of

Hakan Ozyon and Muzzammil Dhedhy have quietly built a major financial services player with $3 billion in funds under management, servicing Australian Muslims.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Private credit, or direct lending, is in a boom phase.

Why retirees should be wary about investing in private markets

Private market assets are being positioned as mainstream investments suitable for just about anybody, and that should ring alarm bells.

  • Ben Smythe

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/wealth/investing