Fund Manager News

The impact of COVID-19 is very different to previous periods of economic turmoil. It’s not like the GFC, which was a financial crisis with poor lending standards – our banks this time around are in good shape. It’s also not like the recession that followed the 1987 share market crash – that was driven by…

India needs foreign investment to fund its growth and infrastructure. Foreign firms and minority shareholders however cast a significant eye towards corporate governance standards and practices. Whilst fraud, corruption, money laundering and embezzlement have occasionally surfaced, regulations are now being put in place to significantly improve Corporate Governance in India. Companies exercising better practices are…

Value Matters Global equity markets have surged since late March. Against a backdrop of improving economic outcomes and unprecedented levels of policy support, the US S&P500 Index has rallied almost 46%, whilst the markets in New Zealand and Australia are up 38% and 31% respectively. Market cycles are always definable by specific factors and influences,…

In total, there are 177 novel coronavirus vaccines in development globally and 6 in Phase III trials, the final stage of clinical evaluation before regulatory approval can be granted. Of these, the 4 candidates you have likely heard about are the US company Moderna (with Fauci/NIH), the German company BioNTech (with Pfizer) and the University of…

Mention the word ‘risk’ when talking about investments and most people instinctively think you are talking about the possibility of losing money. This is an important consideration, but there is a lot more involved in understanding the risks surrounding investments. And it’s not all bad news. For example, did you know you can turn risk…

With less than four months to go until Americans cast their votes for president, we’ve fielded an increase in questions from clients as to whether the U.S. presidential election poses a risk to markets and the economy. The short answer is yes. As a preface, I want to make clear that writing blog posts about…

One Think Big Project leaves – another to begin? Electrification of industrial and process heat makes sense Pumped storage would be a massive project, but could help achieve the Government’s 100% renewable objective Substantial challenges remain in terms of cost, engineering, and resource consenting Scoping study results unlikely to be published quickly with sector uncertainty…

Fund Updates for June 2020 Milford Trans-Tasman Equity Fund - June 2020 Milford Dynamic Fund - June 2020 Milford Australian Absolute Growth Fund - June 2020 Milford Diversified Income Fund - June 2020 Milford Trans-Tasman Bond Fund - June 2020 Milford Global Corporate Bond Fund - June 2020 Milford Active Growth Fund - June 2020…

The pace at which the Covid-19 crisis escalated sparked fears we were heading into another GFC-style credit crunch. There was an immediate ‘dash for cash’ and corporates globally were drawing on their credit lines to ensure they had enough liquidity to cope with material decreases in revenue. However, policymakers around the world acted at an…

Global shares Global share markets made strong gains in the June quarter, with the MSCI ACWI Index – Net returning 9.8% in unhedged New Zealand dollar (NZD) terms. In hedged NZD terms, the Index returned 17.9%. Much of the gains were driven by expectations economic activity would pick up amid a further loosening of coronavirus…

Welcome to Nikko AM's Investment Update for June The remarkable upsurge in financial markets continued throughout June leading to very strong monthly returns for investors in each of the Nikko AM diversified funds. Equity markets globally seem to be shrugging off the COVID-19 shutdowns and the NZ market is no different. Rising by over 5%…

Faced with two bad choices, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has made the difficult decision to lockdown metropolitan Melbourne for six weeks, beginning midnight tonight. As it became clear that authorities could not track and trace the large number of new cases each day, the only feasible way to quickly bring the virus situation under control…