Shareswatch Australia

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.

As we approach the end of another year we should not be surprised by the economic turmoil in Europe, the ailing U.S. economy or the rumblings of a major slowdown in the Chinese property market. The signs that all was not well with the global economy have been raised on this humble site going back more than a year. Simply put, borrowing vast sums of money and splashing it around did not fix the global economic imbalances highlighted by the market meltdown in 2008.

In the midst of all this market madness it might be useful for investors to sit back and look at what various sectors of the Australian stock market have being doing over the last ten years to see if we can spot any emerging trends.  We all know for example that the resources sector has been generally kind to investors over the last few years but will it continue to be a strong performer in the years ahead?

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.

Often lost in the debate about house and home prices in Australia is the discussion regarding if our national obsession with housing is good or bad for the overall economy.  Instead of rejoicing that residential real estate prices in Australia rose during the global financial crisis, maybe we should be looking a little closer at why prices are rising to see what problems this might be causing.

Welcome to the Shareswatch Australia – one of Australia’s premier stock market and investment blogs plus a free source of independent stock market investing views and analysis.

An open discussion about the Australian residential real estate market, home prices and the property market based on articles that were posted & discussed previously.

Welcome to the Shareswatch Australia discussion forum. The aim of this area of the website is to allow people to discuss more freely a variety of issues related to previous blog topics or provide site feedback.

It is time once again to put my ramblings, rants and ruminations for the previous 12 months under the spotlight. Did I correctly spot any stock market or economic trends or should I be standing in the corner with the dunce cap on for most of 2010?

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.

One year has now passed since the failure of Lehman Brothers sent global financial markets plunging and only recently has it felt that the global economy may finally be entering a period of recovery. But will conditions be better or worse in 12 months? Will house prices be higher or lower and where will Australian stocks be in September 2010?

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.

During an economic crisis many investors head for the safety of gold and there is no doubt that since the global economic crisis began that gold was one of the best places to have your money. But is gold still the place to have your money and is it as safe as some commentators seem to imply? Perhaps gold is now trading at bubble like prices and like many commodities last year,  we will see its price correct downwards.

There is no doubt that the Japanese economy is suffering as a result of the global economic crisis. However much of the reporting in the western media is at best poor journalism and at worst, simply wrong.  So rather than focus on sensational attention grabbing headlines, let’s look at some forecasts and facts.

Well it seems the inflation genie is back in the bottle and that the bottle is back in the cupboard. Therefore our wise leaders in Canberra have in less than 12 months gone from fighting inflation, to trying to stimulate growth and save the Australian economy from recession. Of course none of the economic problems Australia faces today have anything to do with government blunders, it is all China’s fault.

There is not a lot of good economic news in circulation at the moment. Today for example I read that the Dubai real estate market is heading for a big fall, and so it seems one of the last pockets economic optimism is about to get that gloomy feeling. I guess this might mean the end of man made islands shaped like continents, so perhaps it is not all bad news.