Japan, the contrarian trade too difficult to ignore. Interview with Platinum Asset Management and Jonathan Ramsay from InvestSense.

October has been easy from a market point of view. Recap of markets in China and Hong Kong. Andrew Hunt says so far so good for now. What's next?

There was more volatility in markets last week, led again by US markets, driven in turn by US rate speculation.

It felt like we had a full business cycle last week with market euphoria earlier in the week give way to more worries about rising interest rates later on, leaving markets up a percent or so after a 6% round trip.

The volatility continued last week, and when the roulette stopped at the end of the week the US was down by almost 2% and the Nasdaq by a bit more than 3% along with emerging markets (mainly weighed down by China).

Markets finished the month with another down week (about -3% for most markets), leaving equity markets down around 10% for the month and around 5% for the quarter.

Last week Andrew visited the InvestSense offices and shared his observations and findings from his visit to the United States, specifically New York.

Last week the S&P 500 traded in a 3% range, having done a 2% round trip on Thursday, followed by a 3% fall on Friday after the inflation data release and then another almost 2% round trip yesterday. Emerging markets were the worst performing, down 4% for the week. Taking a step back though, most equity markets haven’t given back that much of their gains from January, while Europe and the Nasdaq remain up 10% for the year.

As the world’s elite gathered in a snowless Davos, markets focused on much more immediate concerns, starting with the continuing wave of layoffs in corporate America. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Salesforce and Goldman Sachs, among others, took turns to announce staff cuts. It would appear boardrooms and CEOs are lending some credence to the possibility of a recession in 2023.

In light of the recent inflation data coming out of the US, we dive in to why the market is so upset about a 0.1% increase in prices, and what this means from an Australian investor's perspective.

Fears of a US recession later this year gathered pace last week and the US equity market jumped by almost 7% and the Nasdaq was up some 9%.

In recent years professional investors have got increasingly used to the fact that good news is bad news for markets because higher interest rates are likely to be necessary, and of course vice-versa. However, last week the effect was stronger than ever and stocks rallied mid-week amidst reports of widespread lay-offs and expectations of a weak US jobs report.

There are many direct assets and funds that contribute positively to climate action within the InvestSense Better World Portfolios. Meridian Energy is one of the stand-out direct assets in the portfolio with a climate energy focus.

ETFs that invest in carbon credits are now available. Why should we assume that their price will go up over time? And does buying a carbon credit ETF actually contribute positively to emissions reduction? Will it actually generate the outcome investors are expecting? This article explores the issues around investing in carbon credits.

Nathan Fradley explains how the ethosesg technology can help you assess and design an ethical portfolio that aligns to an investor’s personal values.