Market & Portfolio Update - January 2020
Market & Portfolio Update - January 2020
The first month of 2020 saw volatility return to global markets, first with the attack by the US on Iran, followed by the recent health scare of the coronavirus. While global markets predominantly ended where they started in local terms, a falling NZ dollar, increased the value of unhedged overseas assets for NZ investors.
Long term interest rates around the world were lower by a quarter percent as investors retreated to safer government bonds in anticipation of the potential negative impact to global growth by the coronavirus.
At the end of 2018 we set up the NZ Innovation Booster partnership with Victoria University’s research arm, VicLink. To date, the partnership has invested in four exciting companies and this month we added two more; cancer diagnostics company Ferronova and antimicrobial coatings business Inhibit. We are very excited to be investing in NZ ideas that have the potential to transform their discoveries into products or services that have a real benefit to society.
A look back at when the world feared the worst
On August 2, 1990, the world woke up to a grim headline: “Iraq Invades Kuwait; Oil Prices Soar, Markets Plunge.”
Saddam Hussein's forces had crossed into Kuwait, triggering fears of a prolonged conflict in the oil-rich Middle East.
The immediate market reaction was swift and severe.
Lifetime Book Club: The Let Them Theory
In a world where we spend so much energy trying to control outcomes, manage other people’s opinions, and keep everything on track, this book offers a different approach. One that suggests peace comes not from controlling more, but from letting go.