Investing for the long haul

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Investors in commonly-held shares are still in front…despite a raft of tumultuous events over the past 13 years, Mum and Dad shareholders are still in front. Returns on the CommSec... Read more continue reading

Outlook for Australian money market rates

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2011 saw a dramatic change in how the Australian market reacted to a crisis overseas. This is nowhere more evident than in the reaction of the Australian dollar (AUD) says... Read more continue reading

2012 outlook for China in the ‘year of the dragon’

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The China investment team at Fidelity Worldwide Investment is optimistic about Chinese equities in the new Chinese year. While the Chinese economy is expected to slow to around 8% in... Read more continue reading

Weekly economic & market update

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Despite ratings downgrades across the Euro-zone, a sharp downgrade to the World Bank’s 2012 global growth forecast (from 3.6% to 2.5%) and news that the IMF is seeking to increase... Read more continue reading

State of the States – January 2012

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How are Australia’s states and territories performing? Each quarter CommSec attempts to find out by analysing eight key indicators: economic growth retail spending equipment investment unemployment, construction work done population... Read more continue reading

BT Financial Group statement on Productivity Commission inquiry

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One of Australia’s leading superannuation providers today said the Government’s announcement of a Productivity Commission Inquiry was an important step for millions of Australian workers.  BT Financial Group head of... Read more continue reading

ETP Landscape Industry Highlights, year end 2011

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According to the latest “ETP Landscape” report from the BlackRock Investment Institute the global ETP industry ended the year with $1.525 trillion in AUM, up 2.9% from $1.482 trillion at... Read more continue reading

Weakest job market in 20 years

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Employment fell by 29,300 in December – the biggest decline in eight months. Economists had expected a 10,000 lift in jobs. It was the second consecutive fall in jobs and... Read more continue reading

What will it take to cheer up Aussie consumers?

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Aussie consumers are still moderately pessimistic…the Westpac/Melbourne Institute index of consumer confidence rose by 2.4 per cent in January to a reading of 97.1 and sentiment levels are still down 7.2... Read more continue reading

China successfully engineers ‘soft landing’

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Chinese economic data was generally firmer than expected. The Chinese economy grew at an 8.9 per cent annual rate in the December quarter (consensus 8.7 per cent) down from 9.1... Read more continue reading