Shareswatch Australia

The ASX All Ordinaries Index and S&P/ASX 200 Index finished much lower than I expected in 2011, so this makes me somewhat reluctant to go on record and make an Australian stock market forecast for 2012. However the process of looking at the various economic data and trying to guess where the market will end is a useful one, so foolishly I will outline once again my Australian stock market forecast for the year ahead.

Often it is useful to step away from looking at the daily movements of the stock market and review what has happened over the last decade.  This won’t exactly tell investors which stocks will do well during the next 10 years, but it does show which trends have moved the market to where it is now.

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We are almost through a third of 2011 and the mood across global markets appears to be decidedly downbeat.  The bullish voices of late 2010 have now faded and even the Reserve Bank of Australia and Federal Treasurer are sounding cautious. But don’t be fooled by the talk that recent events have caused the global economy to face headwinds because the reality is that 2011 was always going to be a tough year.

As another year starts it’s time for me to make another stock market forecast, one which I will probably regret making in just a few months time. Generally speaking, I expect that 2011 is not going to be particularly kind to the Australian economy and therefore my Australian stock market forecast is not going to make market bulls very happy.

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It may not appear to some investors that the stock market is functioning normally again, but the manner by which the  recent correction was quickly reversed indicates that in fact things are getting back to normal. Certainly there is a long way to go before the ASX All Ordinaries crawls back up to 2007 levels, but at least now a correction is just a correction and not the start of a massive wave of panicked selling.

Recently you have probably noticed that gold prices are getting plenty of media coverage and we are often hearing predictions that gold will hit $2000 USD an ounce in the not too distant future. Sadly what is often not highlighted is that gold is rising mainly because the U.S. dollar is falling and that the demand for gold is largely being supported up by investors.

It was just a few months ago that I was reading about how the financial markets were on the verge of imploding and that gold was the best place to put our hard earned moment. But here we are in July and the global financial system is still alive, stocks are rallying and it is looking like the next bull market might be under way.

Investing can often stir people’s emotions and nothing seems to get people fired up more than when the topic of which asset class or investment will provide the best returns is discussed. So rather than try and pick “the” best asset class, perhaps it is useful to just discuss some of their various strengths and weaknesses without trying to predict future prices or capital gains etc.

Well another financial year is drawing to a close and for most stock market investors the last 12 months have not been very kind. But it is now time to contemplate how the next financial year may unfold and think about any opportunities or threats we may face as investors.

Without doubt the 2008-2009 bear market has been savage and most investors have seen their investment portfolios take a battering.  This year has been particularly unnerving as the Australian stock market looked like it may fall below 3000 just some weeks ago and we were heading for levels not seen since the last bear market.  But just as all bull markets come to an end so do bear markets, and so I cannot help wondering if the rally since the lows of March (Ides of March?) mean we are already in the next bull market phase?