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.
When to invest is a big question facing many budding and experienced investors. The answer seems difficult and has caused a fair few headaches, but here is an example of when to invest that gives a clear answer.
March saw the Coronavirus have a more tangible effect at home, with the move to lockdown in New Zealand taking it from a global event to something with a very clear impact on our day-to-day lives. Meanwhile, share markets around the world continued to be volatile, with the US S&P 500 index staging a dramatic partial 18% recovery in three days towards the end of the month.