Investor Insights

If you’ve been watching the news lately, you’ve seen the script: The Middle East is a tinderbox, the Strait of Hormuz is a “no-go” zone, and $120 oil is an inevitability according to JP Morgan. But if you look at the facts and the data, the story falls apart. Despite the headlines, oil is struggling to hold its gains.

For decades, Australian and global investors seeking income have depended on a traditional “Core” fixed income allocation for their portfolios, mainly consisting of government-related debt and investment-grade corporate bonds. The result is the conventional 60/40 portfolio – a widely accepted blend of equities and fixed income (bonds).

If you’ve spent any time on social media lately, you’ve seen them: sleek, metallic bipeds performing backflips in China, dancing to Motown, or gingerly stacking the dishwasher or placing a singular box on a shelf.

April 9, last year, Donald Trump postponed his Liberation Day tariffs, fuelling a stock market rally led by artificial intelligence (AI) optimism. That optimism turned to fear this year as joy towards AI’s productivity enhancements morphed into panic about how many businesses it would destroy.

While investors look to the next Nvidia earnings call or the latest OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models) release to predict the future of artificial intelligence (AI), Michael Burry – made famous for making billions shorting markets ahead of 2008 subprime crisis – recently turned to an article entitled Thought without Language, The Narrative of a Deaf-Mute, His First Thoughts and Experiences,…

The HY26 results for Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (ASX:DMP) mark a “reset” phase for the company, as it moves away from a decades-long reliance on deep discounting and volume growth toward a more sustainable, value-driven model.

I think a lot about how higher-yielding income products, such as the Aura Private Credit Income Fund and the Aura Core Income Fund, might fit in a retiree’s portfolio and how to articulate that.   It’s a challenge to explain, primarily because we don’t know the future.

In a deal announced today, Magellan Financial Group (ASX: MFG) will buy Barrenjoey Investment Bank. For long-term investors, it could provide the opportunity to invest in another ASX-listed investment bank. Could it be the next Macquarie Bank? Of course, there is a long way to go from Barrenjoey’s $1. 6 billion valuation to Macquarie’s $76.

As we have outlined here on the blog many times over the last year, there just doesn’t seem to be enough money in the hands of potential customers to pay for artificial intelligence (AI) tools that would give hyperscalers a decent return on their intended capital expenditure.

Many believe the era of easy investing is over and after several strong years in equity markets, opportunities are harder to find and valuations are less forgiving. So, with traditional 60/40 portfolios under pressure, investors are looking for diversification, income and resilience.

U. S. consumer delinquencies jump to highest in almost a decade As reported by Bloomberg, delinquency rates on loans rose to 4. 8 per cent of all outstanding U. S. household debt in the fourth quarter, the highest level since 2017.

Rodney Brooks is the Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus) at MIT. For the last eight years, he has been publishing his predictions each year on self-driving cars, electric vehicles (EVs), robotics, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning, and human space travel. Each year, Brooks reviews his prior forecasts without fear or favour.