Fund Manager News

9 Mar 20 Key points The spread of COVID-19 outside of China dented sentiment during February, causing global interest rates and equity prices to fall sharply. US political risk was elevated during the month, as polling and early primary results saw Bernie Sanders emerge as the frontrunner in the race to become the Democratic candidate…

10 Mar 20 - Greg Fleming - Head of Investment Strategy New Zealand Global markets are currently in a state of turmoil as the COVID-19 virus crisis continues to run amok and government action is perceived as inadequate. While commentators are raising the probability of a recession to a near-inevitability, it should be remembered that…

Where to from here for India? Globally markets around the world peaked on February 20th, 2020 and since then have fallen roughly 20% in local currency terms (S&P500). Currencies have also been moving around in a volatile fashion. Typically, in this environment the USD is the most resilient currency. However, the DXY has also fallen…

NZ’s S&P/NZX50 Gross Index fell -3.9% in February.  The falls were led by Synlait (SML -32%) on weak guidance, NZ Refining (NZR -25%) on weak refining margins in Asia and Sky Television (SKT -22%) on further subscriber losses and an increasingly stretched balance sheet. The Fund marginally outperformed its benchmark in February, returning -3.81%. The largest tailwinds…

Ethical Investing in Focus Regular readers will recall that one of the Fund’s investments, Alstom, was a leader in rolling out hydrogen fuelled trains in Germany. Australia is turning its attention to monetising renewable energy via producing hydrogen via the newly announced “H2 under $2” goal. Tasmania has announced a $20m renewable Hydrogen fund, along…

You may have read some headlines around recent volatility in the market.  Rest assured the Milford team continues to actively manage your KiwiSaver through the ongoing developments relating to the coronavirus (COVID-19). We have been positioning your investments to cushion the impact of volatility, particularly in sectors heavily exposed to the potential economic impact of…

George Henderson - Mar 4, 2020 Key Points Overnight, the US Federal Reserve executed an out-of-cycle 50 basis point cut as financial conditions have deteriorated sharply over the last week. The closed circuit of declining confidence driving lower risk appetite, leading to increased financial stress and back to declining confidence, can be broken by government fiscal…

International equity markets fell sharply last week as the fallout from the coronavirus sparked wide- spread selling. Indices in the US all closed down more than 10%, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 recording their seventh consecutive losing session on Friday. In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell around 7% last week,…

Ian Robertson - Senior Analyst - February 4, 2020 With interest rates expected to remain low, more and more investors will be considering moving from term deposits to investment funds. Senior Analyst Ian Robertson discusses a few factors to consider when reviewing your finances.

Stephanie Perrin - Investment Analyst - February 4, 2020 Investor optimism has surged in the US as the threat of a protracted US-China trade war recedes. But Investment Analyst Stephanie Perrin says the tragic Coronavirus is impeding the surge in the short term and she looks at what else is on the horizon in the world’s largest…

Mark Riggall - Portfolio Manager - February 5, 2020 With the housing market showing signs of heating back up, Portfolio Manager Mark Riggall discusses how we’re factoring this into our investment decisions.

Michael Luke - Investment Analyst - January 31, 2020 The outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, has raised concerns among both the general public and financial markets. The situation is very tragic and fast-moving. While we can offer no view on how the virus may develop, we can offer a few thoughts on…