NEWS
24 Feb 2024 - Hedge Clippings | 23 February 2024
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Hedge Clippings | 23 February 2024 This week for a change, Hedge Clippings is going to ignore the Reserve Bank, inflation, interest rates, and even politics, as Barnaby's retired to the bush, and Donald Trump has seemingly even gone quiet as he considers his next legal option. Instead, we're reverting to our bread and butter, the performance of markets and managed funds. It's been just over 3 months since the extraordinary rally in equities kicked off last November. At the end of October last year, the ASX200 Absolute Return Index (ARI) was negative (just) YTD since January 2023, and up only 2.95% over 12 months. By the end of December, the index was up 12.4%. Things did slow down somewhat in January, with a return of 1.19%, by which time the 12 month rolling return had fallen to 7.08% thanks to its performance in January 2023 "falling off" the 12 month's numbers. In the small cap sector, the numbers were even more extreme as risk appetite among investors, plus limited liquidity in most stocks in the sector took a toll. At the end of October '23, the ASX Small Ordinaries ARI was down 6.05% YTD, and -5.11% over 12 months. By the end of December, it had risen over 14% to finish the year up 7.82%, before dipping to a 12 month number of +2.09% by the end of January. Small caps of course are notoriously volatile: In September 2022 the index was down 22% over 12 months, but a year earlier, September 2021, the index was up 30.4%, having risen no less than 52% in the 12 months to March '21 in an amazing rebound from the initial depths of COVID in March 2020 of -21% over 12 months. Experienced investors and advisors will correctly point out that when investing in the market, and managed funds in particular, it's the long (term) game that counts. Most offer documents (and ASIC) suggest a 5-7 year term to ride out the swings and roundabouts. Taking that approach, and the long term suggests an 8-9% annualised return (including dividends) from the Australian equity market and 10-12% from global equities based on the MSCI All Countries World Index. Over the same 5-7 year period, managed funds in AFM's Equity Peer Groups - both Large and Small/Mid Cap - have on average largely provided the same returns after fees as the index: The issue of course is volatility, or standard deviation of returns, but as shown below, so is the concept of average. Many will correctly point to the fact that individual stocks and fund's performance varies dramatically and with careful selection, performance can far exceed the above (although passive investing in an index ETF doesn't provide this, but that's a discussion for another day). Of course equities aren't the only game in town, particularly in volatile markets. Over the past 2-3 years, Private & Hybrid Credit funds have proven that they can return the same as equities (8-10% plus) with a fraction (or none) of the volatility, plus a regular income stream paid monthly or quarterly. We're currently preparing our Fixed Income Private Credit Sector Review to shine a light on this emerging, and increasingly popular sector which features a surprisingly diverse range of strategies and underlying assets. News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com Market Commentary - January | Glenmore Asset Management Stock Story: Charter Hall | Airlie Funds Management January 2024 Performance News Glenmore Australian Equities Fund Insync Global Capital Aware Fund Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund |
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16 Feb 2024 - Hedge Clippings | 16 February 2024
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Hedge Clippings | 16 February 2024 Hedge Clippings copped some flak from some quarters recently when we suggested moving Australia Day from the end of January to somewhere nearer the beginning of the month. Our comments were nothing to do with the celebration - or commiserations - that are normally associated with the arrival of the First Fleet, but all about getting workers off the beach, out of the bar, or away from the back-yard barbie and back to work. To put it bluntly, Australia is largely a "no-work" or "no-deal" zone from at least mid-December (and post Cup Day in Melbourne) through to the beginning of February. For the record, Federal politicians leave Canberra at the end of November, not to return until early February. Of course, that generally keeps them out of the news, or in some cases off the streets - Barnaby, please note!
Back to the unemployment numbers, the economy, and inevitably the outlook for interest rates: While employment has been steadily rising (excluding a slight hiccup in the 3rd quarter of 2021) since March 2020 (when all we could think or talk about was COVID), the number of hours worked has been much more volatile, and has been steadily falling since April last year. There are a whole range of statistics around employment - unemployment, underemployment, the participation rate, and employment to population ratio, and even the NAIRU (or 'non accelerating inflation rate of unemployment') - which collectively leave Hedge Clippings with a headache, but the bottom line, according to the ABS, is they "all point to a slowing labour market during 2023-24, although this follows a particularly tight market in 2022-23." This shouldn't upset RBA Governor Michele Bullock, given she was on the record in a speech she gave in June last year while Deputy Governor, saying the RBA was forecasting unemployment to hit 4.5% by late 2024, with employment growth still intact, and (and at that time) inflation returning to target by mid 2025. Under these circumstances, she said, "the economy would be closer to a sustainable balance point." Not wanting to fall into the same ditch as her then boss Philip Lowe had done, she was careful not to make any predictions on interest rates, but did cover herself by adding "Of course these forecasts are subject to a considerable amount of uncertainty." However, at this stage it looks as if she's on track with the employment forecast, and provided she doesn't ease rates too quickly, she may even get inflation back to the 2.5% target by mid (or late) 2025. At her most recent press conference, she sensibly covered all bases on the next move in official rates - possibly up, possibly down (but don't get excited), or (more likely) on hold for a while longer while waiting for more data, all aiming for the happy space of a "soft landing". Across the Pacific in the US it's much the same, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell also disappointed the market by dampening expectations for an early easing, in spite of falling inflation, 3.7% unemployment, and solid economic growth. Having faced, and to date turned, the direction of inflation with 11 rate rises, he'd rather keep them where they are, and things going as they are, until the gains are locked in. News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com Investment Perspectives: Global real estate - the outlook and themes for 2024 | Quay Global Investors A few charts from our Micro Caps CY2024 Overview | Equitable Investors January 2024 Performance News Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund Insync Global Quality Equity Fund Delft Partners Global High Conviction Strategy |
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9 Feb 2024 - Hedge Clippings | 09 February 2024
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Hedge Clippings | 09 February 2024 Last week's Hedge Clippings didn't linger too long on the potential outcome of Tuesday's RBA Board meeting - the first to be held under the new two-day format - so it wasn't difficult to forecast "there's little chance of a rate rise when the RBA meets next week for their first meeting of the year". However, the statement issued following the meeting - the first issued by the Board as a whole, rather than just by the Governor - was pretty clear in its warning that the economic outlook is "still highly uncertain" and that inflation, or returning it to "target within a reasonable timeframe" remains the Board's highest priority. No doubt the Board's collective statement indicating that inflation's return to target was taking too long - but pointedly including that further increases in interest rates could not be ruled out - was part warning, and part risk-covering given the problems Philip Lowe encountered by making a prediction. However, Michele Bullock's opening statement at her appearance in front of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, delivered this morning, gave further detail on the Board's thinking, including that their inflation target is actually in the middle of the 2-3% range, specifically 2.5%. Inflation peaked at 7.8% in December 2022, falling to 4.1% in December 2023. Now for the difficult task of squeezing the next 1.6% out of the system while maintaining full employment and avoiding a recession, against a backdrop of geo-political strife, supply side issues, weak labour productivity, and across-the-board cost increases thanks to increased wharf costs. A balancing act indeed. As such the Board is not expecting their inflation target of 2.5% to be met for at least 2 years, or until sometime in 2026. As Bullock put it in her address this morning, "we have some way to go..." which we'll take to mean that barring a recession, don't expect any significant easing in the cash rate in the next 6 months or so. On to politics... In Canberra this week Peter Dutton accepted - although he was careful not to endorse - Albo's broken promise on already legislated Stage lll tax cuts. As expected, the decision also opened the door - or debate - for wider changes to the tax system, particularly negative gearing. This takes the government into more dangerous places, as discovered by Bill Shorten when he lost the 2019 election, in large part due to his intention to remove franking credits - which the coalition dubbed a "retiree tax" - and to effectively keep labour in opposition for a few more years. As for Albo's reputation for keeping promises, he's now on the record as having broken one, as well as no longer supporting the whole tax package he and the labour party voted for when they were in opposition. No longer can he claim "my word is my bond," but being a politician, did anyone really believe that in the first place? Finally, over to the USA where Joe Biden has been described (probably accurately) as presenting to a jury as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." At the risk of upsetting our Trump supporters, Donald probably also qualifies as presenting to a jury (and recently to a judge) as an "elderly man with a poor memory." We're not so sure about the "sympathetic, well meaning" tag however. Just to confirm the elderly man with a poor memory tag, Biden then proceeded to respond to the accusation by mixing the presidents of Egypt and Mexico. For the record, one's called Abdel-Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi while the other is Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and while sounding very different, yours truly would probably mix them up as well. Maybe the "elderly man with a poor memory" tag fits closer to home than I'd like to admit! News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com Magellan Global Quarterly Update | Magellan Asset Management January 2024 Performance News Bennelong Australian Equities Fund 4D Global Infrastructure Fund (Unhedged) |
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2 Feb 2024 - Hedge Clippings | 02 February 2024
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Hedge Clippings | 02 February 2024 For most of our readers, this is a welcome back to work in 2024! Notwithstanding the arguments on both sides concerning the rights or wrongs of celebrating Australia Day at the end of January, from a pure productivity perspective, we'd suggest a week into the new year would be a more suitable date. In practical terms by the time January 26th comes along, or more accurately the Monday AFTER the 26th, and taking into account that large sections of the workforce slow down or stop the Friday before the week BEFORE Christmas, that can make it a six week break. Add to that the slowdown in activity in financial markets, and Victoria in particular, following the Melbourne Cup in early November, and no wonder they call Australia the "Lucky Country". Don't expect any politician to hitch their wagon to that idea! Far easier for them to play the divisive wedge on why the date should be changed. I guess it depends on which side of the fence you're looking from. While on the subject of political wedges, reports are that while Dutton might whinge about the government's broken promise around Stage lll Tax Cuts, he's unlikely to actually oppose them given the numbers. And by "the numbers" we mean the number of voters who will benefit from Chalmers' and Albanese's re-adjustments. Don't be surprised if calls for a complete overhaul of the tax system gain traction, but if they do, don't be surprised if GST is left off the agenda, much like it was for the Henry Tax Review almost 15 years ago, which if we recall made multiple suggestions (excluding GST) most of which are still gathering dust. We asked Chat GPT if Henry's Review was successful or not and received this back in a flash: "Ultimately, whether the Henry Tax Review is considered a success depends on one's perspective and the specific criteria used for evaluation. Some may view it as successful for initiating important discussions and influencing certain tax reforms, while others may argue that it did not lead to comprehensive tax reform as originally envisioned." In other words, Chat GPT is having two bob each way, or there's a politician's speech writer moonlighting somewhere in the Chat GPT universe. Where were we? Back to reality. December retail sales were soft, falling 2.7% month on month, and only 0.8% above December 2022. CPI was lower than expected at 0.6% for the December quarter, and 4.1% over 12 months. The quarterly number was the lowest since March 2021, while the annual figure has been falling sharply since its peak of 7.8% in December 2022. We didn't notice any reference or thanks to Philip Lowe in the media - or from his political detractors - but there's little chance of a rate rise when the RBA meets next week for their first meeting of the year. Ditto in the US, but again little appetite from the FOMC for a rate cut, even if markets are champing at the bit for one. Having fought hard to rein inflation in, central banks are unlikely to risk easing too fast or too soon, provided they think they can achieve the economic nirvana of a soft landing. That doesn't seem to be the outlook in China: We covered the collapse of Zhongzhi Enterprize Group briefly in last week's Hedge Clippings, and the demise of leading Chinese real estate group Evergrande this week leaves an even greater hole for the Chinese economy. Evergrande owes money to 171 domestic banks and 121 other financial firms, and has an impact on the entire Chinese banking and consumer sector. There are suggestions that Chinese new home sales are down around 40% for January 2024 YoY. Those figures applied to Australia or the US would be on a 2007 GFC scale, but China being China, there may (hopefully) be no global contagion. However, signs that the commercial office market in the US, and possibly elsewhere, are under stress are cause for concern. News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com Global Matters: 2024 outlook | 4D Infrastructure Airlie Quarterly Update | Airlie Funds Management December 2023 Performance News Quay Global Real Estate Fund (Unhedged) Equitable Investors Dragonfly Fund Insync Global Quality Equity Fund |
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25 Jan 2024 - Hedge Clippings | 25 January 2024
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Hedge Clippings | 25 January 2024 Among the various dates and events either celebrated or lamented around this time of the year there is one that may not make the headlines given tomorrow's anniversary of the landing of Captain Arthur Philip taking first place. Today, the 25th of January, is the fourth anniversary of the first reported case of COVID-19 in Australia. Co-incidentally this week Scott Morrison also announced his retirement from federal politics. Whatever else one thought about him, his initial handling of the pandemic was swift and decisive (some will argue possibly divisive as well!). He won't go down in history as one of our more successful Prime Ministers, but Australia's record of 920 deaths per million of population position it at 108 in world rankings for COVID deaths, and 39th in cases per million which allows for debate from both sides of the "who liked Scomo" debating team. Interestingly, when researching the above statistics, China was way down the bottom of the list at number 221 out of 229 countries, with just 4 deaths per million from COVID, which seems about as reliable and credible as their economic reporting. China is facing multiple headwinds: Inflation is -0.3% YoY and PPI is -2.7% indicating low consumer demand. The property market is "soft" at best - some would call it a disaster, - and the collapse of the Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, a wealth manager which was regarded as one of China's largest shadow banks, owing RMB 220-260 billion (USD 36bn) and stating that it is "severely insolvent" won't help consumer confidence. On the trade front, China's trade with the US fell 11.6% in 2023, while trade with Russia increased by 26%. Meanwhile, it has yet to be seen what effect the shipping problems in the Gulf of Aden, and the longer voyage around the Cape of Good Hope will have on China's trade with Europe. Having driven global growth for the past two decades or more, and exported deflation over the same period, China's change of fortunes have yet to play out on the world's economies. Turning to US politics, it seems a re-run of the 2020 Trump-Biden election battle is now almost a certainty, provided each reach Tuesday November 5th (Melbourne Cup) deadline unscathed - Trump from the various legal challenges he's facing, and Biden from his advancing age. As we noted last week, in a country with a population of over 330 million, it's amazing neither party can come up with an alternative. One interesting view we heard this week is that each candidate provides the best reason to vote for the other: Trump has a strong following among his supporters, but is polarising to say the least. Not only will his presence entice many democrats to actually vote, but there's a risk that some disaffected republicans will also turn out to vote - but against him. That could also cut both ways - there has to be genuine concern about Biden's age and abilities given the prospect of an 86 year old being in the White House at the end of his second term. Meanwhile, enjoy Australia's national holiday - whatever you want to call it, and however you want to spend it. News & Insights 10k Words | January 2024 | Equitable Investors Market Commentary | Glenmore Asset Management December 2023 Performance News Digital Asset Fund (Digital Opportunities Class) 4D Global Infrastructure Fund (Unhedged) Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund Skerryvore Global Emerging Markets All-Cap Equity Fund |
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19 Jan 2024 - Hedge Clippings | 19 January 2024
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Hedge Clippings | 19 January 2024 Happy New Year, and Welcome Back to Hedge Clippings' weekly update of news covering the world of actively managed funds, along with the regular review or comment on what we think is happening in the world, be it the economy, politics, or possibly whatever is catching our attention - or should that be getting under our skin? Traditionally at this stage of the year we reflect on last year's markets and fund returns, and then try to peer forward through the mist to consider what might lie ahead. Looking back is always the easy part. Even though rarely does anything momentous ever happen "out of the blue", whether in financial markets or geo-politics, let's get the easy part done first: Equity markets performed well thanks to a stellar last quarter - or more correctly, the last two months of the year: At the end of October, the S&P500 Total Return was up 10% YTD, but closed the year up over 25%. The ASX200 Total Return was fractionally negative at the end of October, but managed to recover to finish the year up 12.42%. Behind this of course was the global focus on inflation, and in turn interest rates, with signs that the tightening cycle which had started in May 2022 might have come to an end, with a potential easing sometime in 2024. As is normal in negative and volatile markets, the small and mid cap sector bore the brunt of the bad news, with limited liquidity in many stocks outside the Top 300 taking its toll on many of the funds focusing on that sector. The damage wasn't universal however, with 20 out of the 89 funds making up the Small/Mid Cap Peer Group outperforming the ASX200 T/R's performance, and four, Hyperion, Lakehouse, Spheria and Bennelong's small cap offerings doubling the index's 12 month return, resulting in the Peer Group's 12 month average return coming in at 8.97%. To be fair, the small/mid cap sector had some ground to make up: In 2022 only 7 small cap funds posted a positive year, 6 of them only just, but the 7th, Altor's Emerging PIPE Fund was the complete outlier with a positive return of 62.2%. Overall, across all strategies and Peer Groups, the "sea of red" which characterised our performance tables in 2022 was replaced with black in 2023. Only two strategies - Equity Buy/Write and Market Neutral - were negative in 2023, with every Peer Group ending in positive territory for the year, let by Digital Assets (+87.86%) coming back into favour, although yet to erase the Bitcoin rout of 2022. From an activity perspective, and based on anecdotal evidence from AFM's OLIVIA123 Application Portal, the volatility in the early part of last year resulted in relatively subdued flows into equity, and particularly the small cap equity sector. This was more than offset by significant interest in and flows into Private Equity, Debt, Credit, and the emerging Hybrid Credit asset class, with the average investment per application up over 50% to just shy of $150,000 each, as wholesale and HNW investors sought relative security away from the volatility of equity markets, preferring monthly or quarterly distributions of up to 10% or more p.a., often exceeding the benchmark of RBA's cash rate +5%. All these details and more can be accessed on the FundMonitors.com website, including for those yet to take advantage of the current 45 Day Free Trial. Now the difficult part - what's ahead? For obvious reasons of self-preservation we'll keep this vague. In our experience many of the economic experts are only correct in hindsight, with many of their (and our) incorrect predictions conveniently excused or forgotten. Given that, what hope has Hedge Clippings got? However, here goes: Australia: No recession, continued low unemployment (sub 5%), and a gradual easing of inflation and thus interest rates in the 2nd half. Caveat - energy prices on the back of further turmoil in the middle east, potentially spreading. China: Economic troubles persist, as will property malaise. However growth of 5.2% in 2023 isn't too shabby, assuming you can believe the numbers. Taiwan rhetoric to continue. No action (yet, but watch this space). Japan: Re-awakening! Ukraine: Winter grinds on! Wait till Spring, with the risk that the West grows tired before Putin does. The Ukranians will never surrender. Israel/Gaza/Palestine: Best avoided - both physically and commentary! UK: Long term decline continues. USA: Resilient economy, inflation and interest rates to decline (slowly). Finally, 2024 is election year in the US. How a nation that put a man on the moon, was and is possibly still the leader of the free world, and with a population of over 330 million (vs. Russia at 143 million, give or take casualties from the Western front) can only seem to provide the choice of President between an egotistical liar battling multiple court cases, and an octogenarian who at best stumbles and struggles, is amazing! Neither would make it past first base in Australia, but then we doubt Albo or Peter Dutton would make it in America. Either way, if not sick of it/him already, get used to Donald Trump being front and centre of the news for the next 12 months. All in all, why wouldn't you want to live in Australia? News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com Investing in toll roads | Magellan Asset Management Trip Insights: The US | 4D Infrastructure December 2023 Performance News Argonaut Natural Resources Fund Glenmore Australian Equities Fund Bennelong Australian Equities Fund Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund Delft Partners Global High Conviction Strategy |
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21 Dec 2023 - Hedge Clippings | 21 December 2023
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Hedge Clippings | 21 December 2023
News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com Market Commentary | Glenmore Asset Management The 'low emissions' megatrend: Is it too early to invest in green hydrogen? | Insync Fund Managers Investment Perspectives: 12 surprising charts for your Christmas stocking | Quay Global Investors November 2023 Performance News Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund Insync Global Capital Aware Fund Equitable Investors Dragonfly Fund Digital Asset Fund (Digital Opportunities Class) |
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15 Dec 2023 - Hedge Clippings | 15 December 2023
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Hedge Clippings | 15 December 2023 No wonder there's a property crisis - and it's not just because in the 12 months to 30 June Australia recorded a net annual gain of 518,000 people, with migrant arrivals up 73% year on year to 737,000. Temporary visa holders numbered 554,000, while departures decreased marginally by 2% to 219,000. To what extent this represents a catch-up post COVID remains to be seen, but with a population of just 26 million this represents a huge influx - and a massive supply/demand imbalance when it comes to housing and infrastructure. Australia's economy has always benefited from migration, and with 910,000 jobs created over the last two years, and historically low unemployment, there's nothing to fear from the numbers. Australia needs migrants to fill job vacancies, and to maintain the record of growth. As the federal government announced this week, going forward the "mix" of migrants is to change, although we're not confident that when they announce the details they'll get the balance right. Being politicians, there's always the risk they'll make decisions based on the next election, rather than what's best for the long term economic and social benefit of the country as a whole. Even though unemployment inched up by 0.1% in November to 3.9%, with 19,000 joining their ranks, employment increased by 61,000 people, resulting in the employment to population ratio reaching a record high of 64.6%, and the participation rate also at an all time high of 67.2%. But back to property... All too often Hedge Clippings' focus is on interest rates and inflation. However, in spite of the Doomsday merchants and some so-called property experts predicting a 20% to 30% fall in property prices and widespread mortgagee sales as the RBA jacked up interest rates, this hasn't occurred. Prices have remained strong. One reason - and possibly the major one - for the property crisis in Australia is simply the imbalance between supply and demand - economics 101. According to Brook Monahan of Mosaic Property Group, who operates a highly successful building/development business in SE Queensland, Australia wide in the year to March 2023, homes were needed for an additional 226,000 households. Only 170,000 were completed. Next year is worse, with a forecast of just 153,000 new homes completed. As a nation, Australia has never completed more than 191,000 new homes, and the ten year average is 173,000. The target requirement is 240,000. In other words, we're simply going backwards, and cost pressures and lack of effective decision making by governments of all persuasions is not going to help. As Monahan continues, until there is action on a policy front (because winding back migration is not the solution), the current housing shortage will continue to drive rents higher still, and worsen housing affordability. Forecast reductions in interest rates towards the end of 2024 on the back of falling inflation won't help, although it will help those with existing mortgages. And so as we end 2023 and look both backwards and forward, we'd have to say it's been a challenging year, and next year is likely to be the same. Meanwhile, Hedge Clippings will be taking a short, but (we think) well earned break, so this will be the last edition before we return in the New Year. Until then, we'd like to thank you for your time and attention over the past year, and wish you and your family a Happy Christmas, and a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year. News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com The real risk of wildfires to US infrastructure investors | 4D Infrastructure Investing Essentials: Diversification - The shield against investment volatility | Bennelong Funds Management November 2023 Performance News Glenmore Australian Equities Fund Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund Skerryvore Global Emerging Markets All-Cap Equity Fund |
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8 Dec 2023 - Hedge Clippings | 08 December 2023
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Hedge Clippings | 08 December 2023 There may have been a change at the head of the Reserve Bank board table, but whoever writes the Governor's statement and media release following the meeting is stuck in a groove. Apart from the absence of Philip Lowe's favourite "narrow path" term, the perils of inflation and the necessity to curb it are pretty much a copy and paste from prior months, which we suppose is inevitable. News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com Investment Insights: The ups, the downs, and the future of the economic cycle | Touchstone Asset Management The weight loss drug shaping-up as a gamechanger | Magellan Asset Management November 2023 Performance News Argonaut Natural Resources Fund Bennelong Australian Equities Fund Delft Partners Global High Conviction Strategy |
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1 Dec 2023 - Hedge Clippings |01 December 2023
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Hedge Clippings | 01 December 2023 Just as the new RBA Governor Michele Bullock made her mark on monetary policy by increasing rates to 4.35%, (the thirteenth rise since May 2022) so the CPI numbers for the September quarter were released, coming in at 1.2%, and a 12 month figure of 5.4%, showing inflation continues to decline from the peak of 6.8% reached last December. The question now for Bullock will be the ongoing speed of further falls, as that seemed to be one of her primary reasons for the RBA's latest rise. In spite of the better than expected CPI numbers, it's too early to speculate on any relief for home owners in the near term. Both Bullock and her predecessor Philip Lowe were at pains to point out that it was the stubborn persistence of inflation which was one of their primary concerns, but one also gets the impression that Lowe was prepared to tread his "narrow path" more patiently than his successor. Time will tell, but we suspect the final 2-3% reduction in inflation required to get it back to the RBA's desired range of 2-3% is going to prove the most difficult. Drilling down into the CPI numbers shows that the RBA's efforts to date seem to be having the desired effect on discretionary spending, but not on the unavoidables: Against the overall increase of 1.2%, transport topped the list at 3.2%, followed by housing at 2.2%, and communications at 2.1%. On the other side of the ledger, discretionary items such as recreation and culture rose only 0.2%, while furnishing and household goods fell by 0.8%. The latter would seem to reinforce Gerry Harvey's recent comments that things are tough in retail land, and given the blanket discounting over "Black Friday", that might continue through to the December results in due course. Michele Bullock's comments that interest rates were a necessary, but blunt instrument against inflation were one issue - the other being they have a variable "lag" time to take effect, in addition to some of the above items being unavoidable. Interestingly, (or possibly of self interest to Hedge Clippings) Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages brought the average down, only rising 0.6%, while Alcohol had the opposite effect, rising 1.4%! On the lagging side mortgage costs don't impact the entire population, and impact those with mortgages to different degrees. As such we won't know if the most recent rise was a step too far, or was a "goldilocks" move - about just right - until it is either too late, or just part of history. News & Insights New Funds on FundMonitors.com 10k Words | November 2023 | Equitable Investors Acceleration of innovation now spells danger for investors | Insync Fund Managers Events & Webinars October 2023 Performance News Insync Global Capital Aware Fund Equitable Investors Dragonfly Fund |
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