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.
Lifetime Book Club: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
"The truth is, we are not losing our ability to focus because we are lazy or undisciplined. We are losing it because our attention has been stolen."
That is the central idea of Stolen Focus. This is not a typical productivity guide filled with tips to switch off notifications. It is a thoughtful, well-researched investigation into why so many of us are struggling to concentrate and what can be done about it.
Market & Portfolio Update - October 2025
The global share market (represented by the MSCI World Gross Index) was up +3.5% in NZ dollar terms in October. The relatively strong month was underpinned by signs of easing trade tensions between the US and China and another solid US corporate earnings season.