Bank hybrid notes versus bank shares

Bank hybrid notes have received a lot of unfavourable press in the last year.   I think many commentators simply don\’t understand them.  I like them a lot and think their combination of high yields and good capital protection should give them a place in most investor\’s portfolios as a solid defensive asset.

Housing bubbles

There is growing concern that a bubble is developing in the residential property market in Australia.  Prices have certainly zoomed up in Melbourne, and especially Sydney, over the last two years; see the chart below of Australian residential property prices.

The open IPO channel

A lot of new firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) for the first time in 2014.  Over $16 billion of shares were sold in 60 initial public offerings of shares (IPOs).  This high value and high number of IPOs represented a re-opening of that market.  The well known graph below is taken from […]

Value and growth

It is often stated that things are never as bad as they seem or as good as they seem.  I was reminded of that maxim when reading about the fortunes of two firms recently.

The volatile Australian dollar ($A)

Currency issues are very salient in the Australian finance system, including wealth management.  Australia is, after all, a small open, resource based economy with a floating currency.  I am going to talk about the $A quite a lot in this newsletter over time.  To begin with I just want to look at the history of […]