Concerns about Chinese influence in politics and universities may be at fever pitch, but the reality is that some of Australia’s retirement savings will help fuel a predicted $US600 billion ($885 billion) inflow into mainland stocks over the next decade.
Friday’s Sohn Hearts & Minds conference is barely in the rear view mirror, but already Hobart’s Federation Concert Hall is almost entirely booked solid for next year’s event, taking place on November 13 for the first time on the Apple Isle. At $3500 a ticket, that shows how popular the thing’s become.
The majority of investors who attend the Sohn Hearts & Minds conferences in Australia are there to learn about the dozen or so stock tips from leading fund managers as well as make very large donations to a range of medical research institutes.
Developed economies are not heading for another debt reckoning or recession, but are in a risky environment where governments are likely to print money to fund their spending, warns Ray Dalio, the founder of $180bn giant hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.
Veteran investor Howard Marks says the abandonment of the WeWork float, the poor performance of US IPOs in 2019 and the punishment of bad news in US debt markets are all early signs that discipline is starting to return to financial markets, and investors may no longer be rewarded for holding the riskiest assets.
Philip King might seem an unlikely ally for Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe. The chief investment officer at Regal Funds Management has been knocking out returns in the teens to mid-30s for a growing roster of funds for the past 15 years.
The top-performing fund manager from last year's Sohn Hearts and Minds investment conference has criticised the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector as operating in a "fuzzy" regulatory zone and engaging in a game of trying to be acquired before a regulatory crackdown.
Beeneet Kothari, the New York hedge fund manager who pitched the best-performing stock recommendation at the prestigious Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference in 2018 — has warned investors of the risks faced by one of Australia’s favourite tech stocks, Afterpay Touch.
Buy now pay later providers like Afterpay and Klarna are risky businesses operating in a "fuzzy legal area", and are likely to be regulated in coming years or be swamped by larger companies, says US fintech investor Beeneet Kothari.
Tribeca Investment Partners’ Jun Bei Liu provided one of the star performers for last year’s Sohn Hearts and Mind conference with China-based education group New Oriental Education and Technology, which has gained 81 per cent in the last year.
TDM Growth Partners' Hamish Corlett reckons the reversal of fortunes for the once high-flying WeWork may be a reality check for fast-growing private companies with complex ownership structures, and the torrent of money that has propelled valuations ever higher.
Rob Kapito, co-founder of $10 trillion investment giant BlackRock, says a global shortage of investable assets will help the sharemarket grind higher over the long term as dips in equity and bond markets are quickly met by investors hungry for returns.
Rob Kapito, the head of the world's largest money manager BlackRock, says there is more than $US50 trillion ($73 trillion) in cash sitting idle in portfolios around the world due to a lack of investment opportunities and weak returns.
Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks has warned that it is time to take a defensive approach to investing, opting for bonds over stocks, investing in the US rather than emerging markets and choosing larger, more stable companies to invest in over smaller growth stocks.
When the founder and co-chairman of the world’s largest hedge fund likens the global environment to that of the 1930s and sees the current tensions between the US and China as something wider, more permanent and more threatening than a trade conflict it is disconcerting.
