This edition of Points of Interest discusses the economic impact of the war between the United States and Iran, which was instigated by the US in early March. In particular, action taken by Iran to close the Straits of Hormuz has had the most significant impact as far as the economy and the stock market is concerned.

As is usual at the start of a new year, we take the opportunity to review the previous year’s major events, travails, successes and disappointments. 2025 certainly provided more ups and downs than most, including the on-again off-again tariff policies of President Trump. All is revealed in this quarter’s Points of Interest.

In somewhat of a surprise, asset prices around the world have continued to record significant gains over the past three months. In this edition of Points of Interest we question if we are seeing a bubble underway with respect to the prices for many asset classes.

This quarter’s edition of Points of Interest examines the surprising performance of global stock markets over the past three months – after a horror start to the year, largely caused by President Trump’s tariff announcements, the stock market recorded one of its best quarterly returns for many years, despite the ongoing political and economic uncertainty.

This edition of Points of Interest discusses the biggest shock to global trade in decades – the tariff policy recently announced by President Donald Trump. It’s no exaggeration to say that his policy represents the most significant upheaval in global trade arrangements in nearly a century. We also discuss the poor performance of the stock market over the quarter, which not unsurprisingly, reacted savagely to the tariff announcements.

In this edition of Points of Interest, we take our usual opportunity to review key events of the previous year. 2024 proved to be a positive year for stock markets, despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States also prompted us to review how tariffs work, given he has previously promised to use tariffs as a means of tackling perceived trade imbalances.

This quarter’s edition of Points of Interest discusses our approach to portfolio management and the measures we adopt to manage investment risk. We also highlight some of the more well-known behavioural biases which can interfere with making optimal investment decisions.

In this quarter’s Points of Interest, we consider the usefulness or otherwise of the art of forecasting. Is it worthwhile? Does it produce any tangible benefit? And most importantly, does anybody ever get it right?

In this edition of Points of Interest, we discuss the performance of the Australian stock market, which has proven to be unusually volatile. We see the primary causes of this volatility as being the uncertain global geo-political situation, in addition to doubts over the likelihood of future interest rate cuts.

In the Summer 2024 edition of Points of Interest, we review the major events and stock market influences of 2023. We also look ahead to 2024, where we expect continued volatility and an ongoing focus on the future direction of interest rates.