In Australia, property prices have surged over the last year, increasing by 13.5% in the year to May. This situation is not isolated to Australia. House prices across most developed nations have been rising.

Wilsons is pleased to announce the appointment of Sir Ralph Norris and Jeremy Williamson as non-executive directors to the company’s board, effective immediately.

We remain constructive on the A$’s 6 to 12- month prospects, with the prospect of further global re-opening and an above-trend growth environment, typically bearish for the US$ and bullish for commodity-driven/risk on currencies such as the A$. 

The insurance sector has been hit hard since early 2020, underperforming the market by almost 25%. A combination of stock and industry concerns, against a difficult claims environment, has weighed on equity prices. Two-thirds of major players in 2020 were forced to raise common equity capital in response.

After a sharp sell-off in the first quarter bond yields have surprised the consensus by falling in Q2. The US bond market has led the decline, although the Australian bond market has seen a similar pattern.

Oil prices are up +300% since bottoming in mid-2020, as global markets saw demand fall by over 20% in response to worldwide activity restrictions.

The announcement and subsequent progressive global rollout of multiple effective vaccines has sent equities back to pre-pandemic levels and indeed well ahead of pre-pandemic levels in the case of the US market. More than 2.01 billion doses have now been administered.

Lithium is one the lightest and most electro-conductive elements of the periodic table, making it ideally suited for Electric Vehicles (EV), which we expect will be one of the most disruptive technologies over the next decade.