investment insights Archives - Jennings Financial Services

Market update perspective with MLC

Key takeaways • The disorderly rollout of America’s new trade policy has rattled sharemarkets (Chart 1), and investors must prepare to navigate greater uncertainty and volatility through Mr Trump’s four-year presidential term. • Global sharemarket returns have been strong over the past two years driven mightily by investor appetite for US technology stocks, especially the Magnificent Seven (Apple, Microsoft, Google’s parent Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and Tesla). This trend resulted in such stocks’ valuations hitting great heights, which has left them as well as markets vulnerable to a correction. • We estimate that for every 1% increase in effective tariffs, US GDP declines 0.05%. • While the trade stoush is a headwind, President Trump’s tax cutting and deregulatory ambitions are a counter-veiling force and thus we expect US corporate earnings to be higher over 2025, which may boost investors’ morale. • Current events are a reminder that macroeconomic factors are ever present, sometimes with more force than usual, [...]

Market Update with Rob Hogg

A market update with Robb Hogg, Chief Investment Officer of SG Hiscock & Company Limited. This article delves into the key market movements, investor sentiments, and economic indicators that defined July, offering a comprehensive overview of how these factors shaped expectations for future monetary policies. View this email in your browser A month of heightened expectations. July was a month of “rotation” in equity markets, weaker commodity prices, and further easing in global inflation pressures. This shifting dynamic resulted in rising hopes across the globe for policy rate reductions. Over the month, global equity market performances were generally positive (notably except for the US NASDAQ), and market interest rates declined with falls more pronounced for shorter-dated securities (2 year bonds) than for longer term bonds (10 and 30 year bonds) as hopes for monetary easing gathered pace. The Australian dollar (AUD) slipped slightly against the US dollar. Key market movements over the month were as follows: • S&P/ASX300 Accumulation [...]