Tuesday was a strong day for local stocks, with over 85% of the main board closing higher with all 11 sectors contributing to the solid gain of just over +1%. Utilities and Tech stocks were the best on the ground, with the latter closing up over +3%, while the lithium names also finally found some love, Pilbara (PLS) surged over 6% after Citi upgraded a number in the space, including PLS, Core Lithium (CXO) and IGO Ltd (IGO).
We wouldn’t attempt to guess how the horrendous situation in the Middle East will evolve over the coming days/weeks, but I’m sure everybody will be hoping for a quick resolution without much further loss of life. Unfortunately, it’s a very difficult and tense situation that may see Israel rapidly push back Hamas and regain control of their territories, but it’s unlikely to end there with a potential invasion of Gaza on the cards while the neighbouring countries hope for Israel to fail – whatever the outcome we feel the region will carry a renewed “risk factor” for many months to come.
The ASX200 was set to pop back above 7000 this morning following a very impressive Friday session on Wall Street, which saw stocks shrug off a very strong non-farm payrolls number (employment data). Obviously, after the events over the weekend, it's harder to predict what lays in store this morning, but we still believe stocks are looking for, or have found a low, and are set to rally into Christmas; hence, we are “buyers of dips as opposed to sellers of strength” until further notice.
MM increased our position in First Solar (FSLR US) overnight from 4% to 6% into the current market weakness. The move aligned with our current rhetoric that we believe US stocks are looking for a low, and our migration “up the risk curve” is most likely to be executed through increasing existing positions. Following the purchase, we hold 5% cash in our International Equities Portfolio which launched mid-2019 and has enjoyed solid performance since inception, with the intention of opening this portfolio up for direct investment (via Market Matters Invest) this side of Christmas.
Last time MM went bargain hunting in the underperformers via Lend Lease (LLC), Magellan (MFG) and Elders (ELD), things didn’t turn out too well. We subsequently closed ELD for a loss (-9%) while we hold LLC (down -11%) & MFG (up +6.7%). Today, we’ve looked at things slightly differently, as discussed at length, bond yields have controlled equities through 2023, with the lack of traction by the small caps illustrating the point perfectly, i.e. small companies often need to borrow to fund growth, and with these costs rising plus the additional premium usually allocated to smaller companies borrowing it's been hard work for the space to embrace the recovery in say the cashed up US big tech space.
When markets test our resolve, we stand back and try to “KISS” – keep it simple, stupid. Today's question is simple: is our roadmap for bond yields wrong, and hence, do our portfolios require restructuring? Fighting the tape can be a dangerous practice, and although we constantly asses portfolios, they get special attention when our views on a very influential piece of the puzzle comes under pressure.
The ASX200 has held the psychological 7000 area for the last couple of weeks, but it struggled to maintain a meaningful recovery on the upside as the overall market doesn’t appear to be attracting fresh funds, i.e. investors are happy to switch, but the allure of cash yielding ~4.5% is keeping some money on the sidelines. Yesterday, the AFR said that 42 economists they surveyed believe the RBA will cut rates in August 2024 compared to the previous expectations for a May cut, suggesting investors will need to be very patient to get a policy-induced tailwind.
Gold in China fell the most in 3 years on Thursday, almost closing the gap with international prices that’s persisted for weeks. The precious metal tumbled -3.8% on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, with losses accelerating into the close, creating the impression that investors/traders were caught long. The pullback followed a major rally in local prices that had lasted for months, creating a record premium to that outside of the country until the elastic band inevitably snapped back.
China's property woes again dominated the financial headlines overnight, with China putting Evergrande’s billionaire founder under police control while the mansion seized from the chairman was listed for $112mn – a far scarier proposition than faced by most of their local equivalents. China property stocks slid to their lowest level since 2011 as recent short-term optimism evaporated on the news, plus the ongoing weight of massive debt problems.
The last few weeks have seen bond yields test new decade highs, the Australian 10-year closed above 4.4% on Tuesday. Stocks have struggled through September as yields climbed higher, in our opinion, primarily because most investors had positioned themselves for rate cuts in 2024 that now seem a pipe dream. i.e. the crowd was wrong. At MM, we continue to believe that the current decline by local bonds (yields higher) will ultimately fail, but after breaching their support that’s held since June 2022, moves into Christmas are probably in the hands of US Treasuries.
We wouldn’t attempt to guess how the horrendous situation in the Middle East will evolve over the coming days/weeks, but I’m sure everybody will be hoping for a quick resolution without much further loss of life. Unfortunately, it’s a very difficult and tense situation that may see Israel rapidly push back Hamas and regain control of their territories, but it’s unlikely to end there with a potential invasion of Gaza on the cards while the neighbouring countries hope for Israel to fail – whatever the outcome we feel the region will carry a renewed “risk factor” for many months to come.
The ASX200 was set to pop back above 7000 this morning following a very impressive Friday session on Wall Street, which saw stocks shrug off a very strong non-farm payrolls number (employment data). Obviously, after the events over the weekend, it's harder to predict what lays in store this morning, but we still believe stocks are looking for, or have found a low, and are set to rally into Christmas; hence, we are “buyers of dips as opposed to sellers of strength” until further notice.
MM increased our position in First Solar (FSLR US) overnight from 4% to 6% into the current market weakness. The move aligned with our current rhetoric that we believe US stocks are looking for a low, and our migration “up the risk curve” is most likely to be executed through increasing existing positions. Following the purchase, we hold 5% cash in our International Equities Portfolio which launched mid-2019 and has enjoyed solid performance since inception, with the intention of opening this portfolio up for direct investment (via Market Matters Invest) this side of Christmas.
Last time MM went bargain hunting in the underperformers via Lend Lease (LLC), Magellan (MFG) and Elders (ELD), things didn’t turn out too well. We subsequently closed ELD for a loss (-9%) while we hold LLC (down -11%) & MFG (up +6.7%). Today, we’ve looked at things slightly differently, as discussed at length, bond yields have controlled equities through 2023, with the lack of traction by the small caps illustrating the point perfectly, i.e. small companies often need to borrow to fund growth, and with these costs rising plus the additional premium usually allocated to smaller companies borrowing it's been hard work for the space to embrace the recovery in say the cashed up US big tech space.
When markets test our resolve, we stand back and try to “KISS” – keep it simple, stupid. Today's question is simple: is our roadmap for bond yields wrong, and hence, do our portfolios require restructuring? Fighting the tape can be a dangerous practice, and although we constantly asses portfolios, they get special attention when our views on a very influential piece of the puzzle comes under pressure.
The ASX200 has held the psychological 7000 area for the last couple of weeks, but it struggled to maintain a meaningful recovery on the upside as the overall market doesn’t appear to be attracting fresh funds, i.e. investors are happy to switch, but the allure of cash yielding ~4.5% is keeping some money on the sidelines. Yesterday, the AFR said that 42 economists they surveyed believe the RBA will cut rates in August 2024 compared to the previous expectations for a May cut, suggesting investors will need to be very patient to get a policy-induced tailwind.
Gold in China fell the most in 3 years on Thursday, almost closing the gap with international prices that’s persisted for weeks. The precious metal tumbled -3.8% on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, with losses accelerating into the close, creating the impression that investors/traders were caught long. The pullback followed a major rally in local prices that had lasted for months, creating a record premium to that outside of the country until the elastic band inevitably snapped back.
China's property woes again dominated the financial headlines overnight, with China putting Evergrande’s billionaire founder under police control while the mansion seized from the chairman was listed for $112mn – a far scarier proposition than faced by most of their local equivalents. China property stocks slid to their lowest level since 2011 as recent short-term optimism evaporated on the news, plus the ongoing weight of massive debt problems.
The last few weeks have seen bond yields test new decade highs, the Australian 10-year closed above 4.4% on Tuesday. Stocks have struggled through September as yields climbed higher, in our opinion, primarily because most investors had positioned themselves for rate cuts in 2024 that now seem a pipe dream. i.e. the crowd was wrong. At MM, we continue to believe that the current decline by local bonds (yields higher) will ultimately fail, but after breaching their support that’s held since June 2022, moves into Christmas are probably in the hands of US Treasuries.
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