11 August 2017

US Financials Excel in July

by Brett Liddell , CFA

For US moats, the mixed results of healthcare companies proved to be a hurdle in July. 

11 August 2017

Gold Bullion Rallies

by Joe Foster , Portfolio Manager and Strategist

Gold rallied 2.25% in July. 

04 August 2017

Smart Beta entering mainstream

by Arian Neiron , Managing Director

Globally, smart beta is one of the fastest growing investment strategies in the asset management industry. Much of this growth is within ETFs which enable all types of investors to access smart beta strategies previously only available to institutional investors. For the six months to June 2017, smart beta equity ETF/ETP assets have increased by 14.9% to US$592 billion from US$515 billion. This is a 5-year compound annual growth rate of 31.9%¹. In Australia smart beta ETFs are also gaining traction and the results of VanEck’s second annual smart beta survey indicate that the growth is going to continue.

^{1Source: ETFGI, August 2017}

01 August 2017

Enhance your cash yield

by Brett Liddell , CFA

Term deposits, cash funds and cash management accounts are offering little in terms of yield and savvy investors are enhancing their yield with Australian floating rate notes (FRNs).  The Australian FRN benchmark index, the Bloomberg AusBond Credit FRN 0+ Index, has consistently outperformed the cash proxy, the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill index. 

VanEck recently launched its VanEck Vectors Australian Floating Rate ETF (ASX code: FLOT), a portfolio of investment grade Australian FRNs which tracks the Australian FRN benchmark.

26 July 2017

June Gains Extend Moats’ YTD Strength

by Brett Liddell , CFA

US moat stocks were the shining stars in June.

21 July 2017

Do you like your income smooth or crunchy?

by Michael Brown , Director, Operations & Finance

A lot of investors like their portfolio to deliver a smooth series of payments into their bank account. That’s easy to do if you settle for low paying bank accounts but it gets much harder when you need higher returns. A common solution is to include infrastructure investments in the portfolio, but those who have chosen the wrong infrastructure fund have been disappointed.