There’s a lot of excitement out there amongst borrowers, particularly those with a mortgage renewal coming up. The message boards are full of people speculating on how low rates will go, and strategising how to play it for maximum advantage. While the optimism is justified, some caution applies as well. If you’re in the midst…

Alternative assets like private equity, private debt, infrastructure and commodities are a different kind of investment to conventional shares and bonds. At Craigs, we have recently introduced alternatives as a new asset class for our clients. For many years, alternative assets were the domain of only large investors like sovereign wealth funds and university endowment…

As markets and economists had expected, the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates again last week. However, the post-announcement press conference was a little different to usual, coming hot on the heels of the election. Fed Chair Jerome Powell fielded the usual array of economic questions, as well as several about President-elect Donald Trump. He…

It was a very successful night for Donald Trump and the Republican Party. While the polls were close, Trump was the favourite leading up to the election, at least in the eyes of betting markets and Wall Street. However, the strength of his victory was a surprise. Few predicted he would win the popular vote,…

There’s a lot of good investment wisdom out there. Ensure you’re well-diversified, stick to quality assets, don’t overtrade and keep fees to a minimum are but a few examples. One of the simplest but most important, especially when it comes to shares (or any growth asset, for that matter) is to maintain a long-term view….

The US presidential election is upon us. It’s scheduled for Tuesday, November 5, so all the action will be a day later here in New Zealand. Polls will close in some East Coast states in the early afternoon our time, while in the likes of California and Alaska it’ll be later that evening. Coverage of…

The shares or property debate remains alive and well, especially in housing-obsessed New Zealand. I like investing in businesses so I lean toward shares, but I understand why property is so popular.   At the same time, I think some people have a rose-tinted view of housing as an investment, overestimating the returns and underestimating…

The Reserve Bank’s bumper OCR cut gave the local sharemarket a strong boost earlier this month. With further reductions expected in the coming months, New Zealand shares could be in for a brighter period. Having rebounded solidly since the end of June, the local NZX 50 index (which includes dividends) is up 9.1 per cent…

The New Zealand dollar has rebounded strongly in the last couple of months. It’s been sitting comfortably above US$0.63 in recent days, up eight per cent from under US$0.59 in late July. That’s the highest in more than a year and not far from the long-term average of US$0.66. There are a few reasons for…

The Federal Reserve started its easing cycle with a bang last week. It cut the Fed Funds Rate by 0.50 per cent, a bigger move than some had expected. Is that an ominous sign for the outlook, or will it be the catalyst for markets to keep pushing higher? Central banks don’t have a great…