Range of stock market/ real estate related questions

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Question asked 21/05/2022

Range of stock market/ real estate related questions

HI MM, Please add these questions to the Sat - Ask James session: i) Can you please comment on the local ETF - FOOD in conjunction to the Thursday morning report. Are there similar food company based ETF offered in the ASX? ii) Lumber prices - it is not being discussed a lot, can you share your insight and direction? Are there ASX companies linked/exposed to lumber prices. iii) Labor's govt - Help to Buy policy ( govt to lend up to 40% ) vs Liberal's policy of tapping into Super. Won't both policies be pushing up home prices? Sounds like one is govt loan and the other is tapping into Super savings. What's your comment? Thanks,

Answer

Hi Jacky,

1 – The BetaShares FOOD ETF is traded on the ASX, its only got a market cap of $115mn and holds global companies that are exposed to the food thematic which include fertiliser companies and even tractor manufacturers. It is priced at 0.57% which is okay with 60% exposure in the US. I could be wrong but from my understanding, it is the only agriculturally focused ETF listed in Australia. A number of the ETF providers subscribe to MM so maybe they could correct me if I am indeed wrong?

2 – Lumber prices have been on a roller coaster ride since 2020 – rallying 8x, falling by 75%, rallying 3x and then halving = good luck trading it! Lower prices such as we are seeing coming through today should benefit construction companies for obvious reasons.

3 – We imagine both policies will have a slightly positive initial nudge on prices before they revert to more traditional supply / demand and affordability influences.

chart

Lumber ($US/110,000 board feet)

LAST UPDATED 20/05/2022 16:16

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