This edition of our quarterly newsletter, Points of Interest, takes a look  back at the year that was 2014 and also considers what major economic and financial events may be expected through 2015. We consider the recent volatility in the price of oil, the short-term outlook for the Australian economy and the threat of deflation in Europe and other parts of the world.

This edition of our quarterly newsletter, Points of Interest, takes a look at the return of volatility to domestic and global markets. The impact of overseas investors on the Australian market is one of the items we discuss in the newsletter. We finish with a global update, reflecting on economic concerns over matters such as demonstrations in Hong Kong and the Ebola virus outbreak in west Africa.

This edition of our quarterly newsletter, Points of Interest, considers the potential impact on financial markets of the ongoing extensive monetary easing policies of major central banks. The past five or six years have seen central banks such as the US Fed and Bank of Japan undertake unprecedented measures to stimulate economic growth. There is a growing concern that these actions are simply sowing the seeds of the next crisis. We discuss this possibility in detail.

This edition of our quarterly newsletter, Points of Interest, considers the impending Federal Budget, to be delivered by Treasurer Joe Hockey in early May of this year. We highlight some of the issues facing Australia as it grapples with the ongoing slowdown in mining and a rapidly ageing population. We also discuss the current state of the global economy.

This edition of our quarterly newsletter, Points of Interest, looks back at 2013 and considers the outlook for 2014. We discuss the end of the Australian mining boom in detail, and we highlight the dangers posed by the inexorable rise of the Chinese shadow banking sector.

Following a redesign of our quarterly newsletter, we are proud to release the Spring 2013 edition of Points of Interest. We consider the immediate outlook for the Australian economy, now that the mining investment boom is rapidly deflating. We also discuss global economic conditions and highlight some of the challenges that will face the US Federal Reserve as it seeks to eventually withdraw its ongoing stimulus of the US economy.

In the Winter 2013 edition of Investment Update we consider the improving economic situation in the United States. Amidst all the gloom about Europe and concerns over China, the evolving story of the economic recovery in the United States has received little attention. We outline the progress the United States has made since the global financial crisis, and how the discovery of new energy supplies may radically transform the US economy.

In the Autumn 2013 edition of Investment Update we focus on the search for yield. Historically low interest rates in Australia and much of the developed world has resulted in investors ‘hunting for yield’; that is, trying to seek out those investments which offer a reasonable income return. With bank interest rates approaching 0%, the attractiveness of high-dividend paying shares in banks and other companies has resulted in a strong performance by some sectors of the market.

In the Summer 2012 edition of Investment Update we look back at some of the defining economic issues of 2012, as well as considering some of the major issues facing the global economy as we enter 2013. We also discuss the role of central banks and the future challenges they will encounter as they act to ‘normalise’ monetary policy.