Topical articles, commentary and interviews from the unit trust industry and the broader economy, edited by Liz Still, Head of Research at Equinox.co.za. Please email with any comments or suggestions.
Many of these articles have appeared as part of our regular newsletter.
| 09 Mar 10 |
Lance Vogel, CIO of Analytics writes that South Africa had very positive news last
week; Treasury has covered our foreign borrowing needs for the coming year by
raising $2 billion in global.. |
| 09 Mar 10 |
STANLIB’s new CEO Thabo Dloti has taken up his post in Melrose Arch. He will also
exercise executive duties across Liberty Properties and Liberty Corporate Benefits
and Group.. |
| 09 Mar 10 |
Ian de Lange of Seed Investments writes that Warren Buffett has been described
as one of the best investors of all time. He has a fantastic long term track record
as an allocator of capital. But.. |
| 09 Mar 10 |
Chris Gilmour, an analyst at Absa Asset Management Private Clients writes that
the rand appears to have been remarkably strong in the past year or so,
prompting some observers to call for.. |
| 08 Mar 10 |
EFS Investment Solutions has been informed by Sanlam Collective Investments
that the asset manager has decided to close the SIM World Big Blue Chip.. |
| 08 Mar 10 |
Mark Cliff of Alphen Asset Management takes a look at Warren Buffet’s most
recent letter to the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and what lessons
may be learned from the World’s Greatest.. |
| 05 Mar 10 |
Philipp Wörz of Alphen Asset Management comments on how local markets have
performed in the uncertain and volatile conditions since the start of the year, and
looks at some of the constituents.. |
| 04 Mar 10 |
Ian de Lange of Seed Investments writes that central banks around the world have
maintained ultra low interest rates and for the most part this is continuing with two
major central banks making.. |
| 25 Feb 10 |
The Targeted Absolute and Real Return funds subsector received the second
largest volume of inflows during the fourth quarter of 2009. However, according to
Dr Prieur du Plessis, chairman of the.. |
| 19 Feb 10 |
Adrian Clayton of Alphen Asset Management writes that regular readers will know
that Alphen takes a long-term investment view; the investment team were bullish
last year believing that markets.. |
| 19 Feb 10 |
Arthur Kamp, Sanlam Investment Managers Investment Economist writes that
government has committed to an achievable, sustainable fiscal.. |
| 18 Feb 10 |
We have seen global developed stock markets, as represented by the MSCI World
Index, rise by more than 75% from the March 2009 low to the mid-January 2010
high. Emerging markets, as represented.. |
| 18 Feb 10 |
Mike Browne of Seed Investments writes that yesterday was the first time in
around a decade and a half that South Africans didn’t hear Trevor Manuel deliver
the national Budget Speech. Pravin.. |
| 18 Feb 10 |
Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia recently wrote a column for
Bloomberg Markets in which he explored the risk and likelihood of double-dip for
the global economy. This article was.. |
| 18 Feb 10 |
Lance Vogel of Analytics writes that global markets are faced with three areas of
worry at the moment. China is slowing lending, Greece is testing EU resolve and
the pace of economic recovery.. |
| 15 Feb 10 |
Philipp Wörz of Alphen Asset Mangagemetn writes on economic indicators and what
they tell us. He says that 2010 will be a year of economic recovery, both globally
and locally. The question that.. |
| 10 Feb 10 |
Chantal Valentine of Coronation Asset Managers writes that inflation is low for now
but it may not stay that.. |
| 09 Feb 10 |
Stanlib has announced a number of new senior appointments. They include a new
Chief Investment Officer, a new Head of Research a new Head of Credit Research
and a new Small and Mid Caps Fund.. |
| 07 Feb 10 |
Ian de Lange of Seed Investments writes that there are a growing number of
voices calling for the shorting of global bonds. Some, like Marc Faber, have called
it the short of the century. .. |
| 05 Feb 10 |
Albert Botha, analyst at Atlantic Asset Management writes that a casual look at the
world seems to induce much less panic now than it would have 12 months ago. At
that time we were facing down.. |
| 05 Feb 10 |
Greg Flash from Alphen Asset Management writes that asset classes in 2009 were
a mixed bag and looks at options for.. |
| 05 Feb 10 |
At a presentation last week, Kevin Lings, Chief Economist at Stanlib ran his
audience through a presentation he appropriately called ‘What.. |
| 04 Feb 10 |
Tony Gibson, a founder member of Coronation and a former CIO of the company
writes that in the present investing environment it would seem that a portfolio of
intrinsically undervalued global.. |
| 03 Feb 10 |
A press release from Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (Asisa)
has announced that the value of the collective investments industry is now R786
billion, with inflows of R125.. |
| 03 Feb 10 |
Terence Craig, Chief Investment Officer at Element Investment Managers writes
that this quote, attributed to baseball’s Yogi Berra, (a 60’s a New York Yankees
baseball player) seems entirely.. |
| 03 Feb 10 |
Ian de Lange of Seed Investments writes that there are various views on the
valuation of emerging markets. Some strategists are saying expensive, others
such as Franklin Templeton, fully priced.. |
| 03 Feb 10 |
Ian de Lange of Seed Investments writes that the US consumer confidence level
increase of 2,3 points in January and with December is positive but notes that this
comes off a very low.. |
| 01 Feb 10 |
Shaun le Roux of Alphen Asset Management writes that many equity managers
tend to have something hardcoded into their DNA that results in them always being
positive on the.. |
| 01 Feb 10 |
Ian de Lange of Seed Investments writes that the December inflation data was
released on Wednesday last week, reflecting a year on year price gain of 6,3% up
from 5,8% in November. This rise.. |
| 01 Feb 10 |
The Financial Services Board (FSB) has announced that it is currently conducting
an investigation into Dividend Income unit trust funds. These funds are under
review as some of them use opaque.. |
| 28 Jan 10 |
The RECM Investment Team have looked into investing in listed property and
concluded that although there have been spectacular returns over the past ten
years, right now they do not consider.. |
| 28 Jan 10 |
Dr Prieur du Plessis, chairman of the Plexus group says that listed South African
real estate instruments are showing their mettle and continue to offer value in the
global.. |
| 28 Jan 10 |
Arno Lawrenz of Atlantic Asset Management writes that the market outlook
remains clear as mud with even the post MPC statement clearly depicting an
organisation not 100% sure of itself. The fact.. |
| 25 Jan 10 |
Adrian Saville, CIO of Cannon Asset Managers writes that there is evidence of
growth in the global investment environment, but growth should be seen against a
backdrop of weak fiscal positions.. |
| 25 Jan 10 |
Adrian Clayton of Aphen Asset Management writes that he chuckled quietly to
himself when he explored the thought earlier in January that this was going to be
a difficult year with respect to.. |
| 25 Jan 10 |
Prieur du Plessis, Chairman of the Plexus Group writes that global credit crisis in
mid-2007, 2008 and the start of 2009 caused high investor risk aversion. Unit trust
investors moved large sums.. |
| 25 Jan 10 |
Duncan Artus, portfolio manager at Allan Gray writes that governments around
the world are engaged in significant fiscal and monetary stimulus. But there is
some doubt about whether their.. |
| 21 Jan 10 |
Arno Lawrenz of Atlantic Asset Management writes that a couple of years ago well-
known online financial newsletter guru, John Mauldin, coined the
phrase, “statistical recovery.” While this could.. |
| 21 Jan 10 |
Investors should start getting used to the idea that real returns will be lower over
the next few years, says Peter Brooke, head of Macro Strategy Investments at
Old Mutual Investment Group SA... |
| 19 Jan 10 |
Mike Browne of Seed Investments writes that reflecting back on 2009 we can see
that the different asset classes returned widely varying returns over the.. |
| 19 Jan 10 |
Some analysts described the 3rd March 2009 price lows, when the JSE All Share
index was at 17 953 as 'the buying opportunity of a generation'. So which fund
managers actually went to the sale.. |
| 19 Jan 10 |
Neels van Schaik of Alphen Asset Management writes that despite the bumpy ride
we experienced early in 2009, market valuation levels in the market towards the
end of the first quarter in 2009.. |
| 18 Jan 10 |
Shaun le Roux of Alphen Asset Managers writes that 2010 has started with an
improved mood, compared to this time last year. He says that a few Alphen clients
have remarked that 2010 will almost.. |
| 15 Jan 10 |
Lance Vogel, CIO of Analytics Investments writes that while guarded optimism
seems to be widespread as we head into 2010, it does not take long to identify
possible storm cells on the horizon.. |
| 15 Jan 10 |
Mike Browne of Seed Investments writes that many eyes follow the news out of
the US purely as it is still has the largest economy in the world, and also because
Americans are well versed in.. |
| 14 Jan 10 |
Ian Liddle, Chief Investment Officer at Allan Gray wonders what will our children
and grandchildren will think when they look back on the stock market record for
the first decade of the 21st.. |
| 13 Jan 10 |
Mike Browne of Seed Investments writes that he came across an interesting graph
that showed the performance of the local equity market (as represented by the
FTSE/JSE All Share) compared to the.. |
| 06 Jan 10 |
Prudential has announced the appointment of Bernard Fick (pictured) as Chief
Executive following the promotion of Graham.. |
| 05 Jan 10 |
While there are few dominant trends or themes in the top twenty funds of 2009,
many of the bottom twenty funds on the EFS Investment Solutions websites are
from the same investment categories... |
| 05 Jan 10 |
The twenty best performing funds for the 2009 calendar year include four Mining
and Resource Funds, three General Equity Funds (two domestic and one foreign),
three Financial Sector Funds, two.. |
| 29 Dec 09 |
Piet Viljoen, Chief Investment Officer of Regarding Capital Management describes
how his company makes investment decisions and how these are implemented... |
| 29 Dec 09 |
Kevin Lings, Chief Economist at Stanlib writes that over a year has already gone
by since the global financial crisis began in September 2008. Although most
economies remain fragile, there are.. |
| 29 Dec 09 |
Eric Lonergan, Director, Asset Allocation, M&G London writes that as humans,
whether we admit it or not, we all defer to and like to have structures, paradigms,
checklists or frameworks for.. |
| 29 Dec 09 |
Keillen Ndlovu and Evan Jankelowitz, Co-Portfolio Managers of the Stanlib
Property Income Fund write that many would be surprised to hear that listed
property has been the best performing asset.. |
| 29 Dec 09 |
Neels van Schaik of Alphen Asset Management writes that the property investors
are divided into two very firm camps, the believers and the non-believers. We see
ourselves as the 'middle camp',.. |
| 22 Dec 09 |
Graham Mason, Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Portfolio Managers (South
Africa) has accepted an offer to move within the Prudential Group to take up the
position of Chief Executive Fund.. |
| 22 Dec 09 |
2009 is fast coming to a close and this is Seed Investment's final newsletter for
the year. The year started off where 2008 had ended; reeling from the final
quarter of 2008, but then turned.. |
| 22 Dec 09 |
Pieter Koekemoer , Head of Personal Investments at Coronation Asset
Management writes that 2009 started with global financial markets in freefall and
the entire financial system in crisis. In an.. |
| 22 Dec 09 |
Arthur Kamp, Investment Economist from Sanlam Investment Management writes
that we should take note of three new macro economic trends: The SA economy is
emerges from recession, local inflation.. |
| 22 Dec 09 |
Mike Ronald, Head: Investment Team at Marriott Asset Management, looks at the
latest figures from Treasury and concludes that the business sector remains under
pressure. In addition, long bond.. |
| 18 Dec 09 |
Dr Prieur du Plessis, chairman of the Plexus Group, sheds some light on his
investment team's thinking regarding prospects for the global economy and
financial.. |
| 18 Dec 09 |
Armien Tyer, Managing Director of Sanlam Investment Managers writes that just
when investors thought the worst was over and financial markets were headed for
calmer waters, Dubai's shock debt.. |
| 18 Dec 09 |
Arno Lawrenz of Atlantic Asset Management writes that when comparing current
market levels to those of the previous week (bonds remain within kicking distance
of its average for the past 31.. |
| 15 Dec 09 |
Lance Vogel, Chief Investment Officer of Analytics, writes that as we head into the
holiday season, it is instructive to reflect on some relevant events over the last
few months that will have.. |
| 14 Dec 09 |
Thabo Dloti, CEO of Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa (OMIGSA) has
decided to leave Old Mutual to join the Liberty.. |
| 14 Dec 09 |
Greg Flash of Alphen Asset Management writes that it would seem that investing in
a local, rand denominated global flexible or global equity fund would on average
provide more consistent, less.. |
| 14 Dec 09 |
Delphine Govender, Portfolio Manager & Director, Allan Gray Limited, writes that
Allan Gray's mission is to provide clients with the highest investment returns at no-
greater-than-average risk... |
| 14 Dec 09 |
Prieur du Plessis of Plexus Asset Mangement writes that equity investors who have
followed the buy-and-hold strategy in the US market have lost big money over the
last ten years in both nominal.. |
| 14 Dec 09 |
Dr. Mark Mobius, Executive Chairman, Templeton Asset Management Ltd writes
that The MSCI Emerging Markets index ended the month of November 2009 with a
4% gain in US$ terms. Many of the emerging.. |
| 14 Dec 09 |
Jeremy Gardiner, director at Investec Asset Management, looks back on a
turbulent eighteen months and sets out what we can expect from.. |
| 14 Dec 09 |
Adrian Clayton, Alphen Asset Management reviews how the company has
managed money over the last two years, and notes some concerns for.. |
| 14 Dec 09 |
There are few things more satisfying than a good book. We asked a selection of
fund managers to recommend books that they have recently enjoyed, specifically
encouraging the inclusion of.. |
