Shareswatch Australia

The Australian stock market has posted some good gains recently with the ASX All Ordinaries Index and S&P/ASX 200 Index both closing above 5100 yesterday. Instead of the markets showing some weakness as I expected, they appear to be rallying even despite falls in commodities prices and warning signs that the Chinese economy may start to slow again. This makes it difficult to get a feel for where the markets might be heading and economic stimulus measures in the United States, China and Japan complicate the outlook even further.

In the last 12 months, shares of the Australian S&P/ASX 300 healthcare index (comprising 22 companies) have risen faster than their counterparts in the industrials and energy sectors. While this is in part caused by the downturn in the commodity markets as the world grapples with the European debt crisis and a slowdown in China, the healthcare group, notoriously a defensive sector, has also shown resilience despite challenging market conditions.

At the start of last year I did not update my Australian stock market trends simply because I thought the market was basically going nowhere. This year however I feel it is worth looking at some interesting sectors again in an attempt to pick out some areas where investors might be able to find bargains and position themselves for the next bull market.

I have been a vocal critic of the National Broadband Network for a long time and was talking about what a mess it would be way before the mainstream media woke up.  So to further illustrate my point I have put together a list of  areas or ways where I believe the taxpayers $43 billion could be better spent and deliver better outcomes for the Australian people.

Another year, another decade and time once again to look at our shares portfolio and perhaps review our positions. Although the global financial crisis has been tough for investors the fact is that the Australian stock market did bounce back in 2009 and if history is any guide then we are likely to see it finish higher in 2010.

The current downturn in the world markets presents us with an opportunity to review or develop our investment strategy for the next few years. For some people it may mean a major overhaul such as moving from stocks to real estate, while for others it may mean just a realignment of stocks in a portfolio.

It seems the Australian government is in the mood to throw money around in order to try and lessen the impact of the recession, but one option that does not seem to have been raised is for the government to establish another sovereign wealth fund. This new fund could act as means of supporting the stock market and provide a source of income over future years to maintain spending on such things as national infrastructure and healthcare.