Following is a list of Products articles published on PortfolioConstruction Forum throughout 2006...
Since the start of the Aussie stock market fall of recent weeks, the question being promoted in the popular media is whether or not this represents a signal to sell stocks. It's refreshing then to see yesterday's report from broker Bell Potter that analyses the latest market downturn in the context of the last 25 years and concludes that this fall is typical of those that follow US Fed Reserve interest rate hikes and that, given the surrounding signs of economic strength, now may even be a time to buy Aussie stocks! Full Story >
Investing philosophies can differ significantly between hedge fund managers. McKinsey Quarterly interviews Lee Ainslie, an executive of one of the largest and most consistently successful hedge funds, about what it looks for in a company it is considering investing in and how the relationship with the company's executives is developed... Full Story >
It's been another week of great sport, both on and off the field. Global equity markets have been shedding some weight over the past few weeks, and the investment management industry has been having a field day with suggested causes and cures. Who is right, and who is wrong? Full Story >
In many cases, the results Protected Equity Loans over a diversified portfolios of shares are superior to those of a physical share portfolio alone. This arises because of the possibility of "positive selection" in a protected equity loan – losing shares are simply returned to the lender at the term of the PEL... Full Story >
Providing a service to clients seeking advice about investing directly in foreign securities requires more than the conventional observance of the rules concerning volatility, diversification and the balance between income and growth... Full Story >
What does it take for a hedge fund to be of "institutional quality"? A paper published in the Journal of Portfolio Management, Frederick Dopfel, a senior strategist for Barclays Global Investors, provides some suggestions... Full Story >
With the March 2006 Aussie reporting season just behind us (with some great numbers for many key stocks and sectors), it's the turn of the US market. It continues to defy the doomsayers with strong earnings growth numbers starting to emerge... Full Story >
The financial markets were rocked late last week by news that ASIC has initiated civil proceedings against Citigroup Australia... Full Story >
Warren Buffett presents a folksy, traditionalist's perspective on investing. The Buffett story speaks of deep value investing, with a patient buy and hold approach - all pretty simple stuff. But the reality is that Buffett actually employs far more sophisticated investment techniques than the traditional value style that he is known for... Full Story >
As US markets continue to rally, sending a warm glow of economic reassurance to the global economy, one leading Australian investment manager asks whether Aussie investors should start to retreat from the global growth cycle and look for value in unloved industrials. Remember the concept of diversification... Full Story >
Following on from the successful offerings of Nexus 1, 2 and 3 by Deutsche Bank, Nexus 4 - the first foray into a managed CDO by Nexus - has recently announced that it has suffered an event of default in its income portfolio... Full Story >
It is with respect that I suggest that SPAA might usefully take a leadership role on the fee debate... Full Story >
The biggest question at week's SPAA Conference was how advisers and dealer groups will cope with the increasing volumes of recommendations that include listed products. The role and importance – as well as the limitations – of wrap platforms is a central part of this question... Full Story >
As we wrote our recent analysis of the Orica hybrid, it became apparent that the institutional market had a radically different view of it. Which brings us to the latest hybrid, CBA PERLS III, in our view a far better example of a well-designed hybrid that copes with new accounting rules in a sensible and fair manner... Full Story >
For many investors, the key to surviving in our low interest rate environment is to look for ways to generate additional yield. Whether in accumulation or pension phase, yield is a key way to improve returns. This is becoming increasingly difficult. In a recent paper, ABN AMRO has worked through the mathematics to illustrate the opportunities in the case of Tabcorp and Bluescope Steel... Full Story >
The corporate finance world is a funny place, replete with arbitrage and exotic structuring techniques that bedazzle investors and line the pockets of product issuers. At the same time, when applied sensibly, financial engineering adds significant value, both to product issuers as well as to investors... Full Story >
On 15 February 2006, BHP Billiton announced that it will return US$2 billion to its shareholders under a capital management programme to be completed within an 18 month period. The acceptance for these types of buy backs is normally skewed towards low rate taxpayers, leaving higher rate investors sometimes wondering why they miss out on the benefits of the buy back. For such investors, it is much more likely that the blame should be aimed at the tax system, and not at companies that seek to buy back their shares in this way... Full Story >
The big superannuation funds are deliberately making it hard for Australians to exercise their right to switch super providers, according to research from Virgin Money... Full Story >
As we saw yesterday, the Aussie sharemarket is experiencing massive corporate profits this season, but the prices of key shares are sending mixed messages, not entirely in synch with reported earnings. Clearly, there are qualitative and macro issues at work here, and as we discussed yesterday in the case of CBA, this reflects investor skepticism about key parts of the company’s strategy or market position... Full Story >
Commissions for agribusiness projects are too high and may be damaging to the long term interests of the industry, according to the Australian Agribusiness Group’s managing director Marcus Elgin... Full Story >
Here we look our analysis begun yesterday, looking at the post-tax return from a strategy that sees our case-study investor considering the use of a Protected Equity Loan over their example stock, RIO - to do so we delve into some of the finer details of PEL investing. Full Story >
The yield spreads on corporate debt relative to government debt around the world have been narrowing mostly over the past two years. Several factors have driven this... Full Story >
The first DIRECTINVESTING article for the year (published Monday) noted the massive underpinning for the global growth cycle now well underway. It should also be remembered, of course, that growth comes at a price... Full Story >
To date, most CDOs issued in Australia have given exposure to underlying credits that are rated above investment grade. Sometimes a small component of selected names which are just below investment grade are included. This will increasingly come under pressure in the search for yield... Full Story >
Welcome to DIRECTINVESTING for 2006. As we closed 2005, we were covering the massive global growth cycle now underway, and its impact for Australian investors and their financial advisers. So what lies ahead? Full Story >
