Recently the news has been dominated by horrors and disasters in the Ukraine and Gaza, and an emerging global health threat from the Ebola virus in West Africa, none of which are necessarily relevant to Financial Markets or "Hedge Clippings", except we have been surprised at the lack of market volatility resulting from them. Maybe the markets have become hardened or become immune to the daily dose of visual horror we are presented with, or maybe they just won't affect the bottom line enough to matter.
Earnings are a different matter, particularly when the majority of experts have been talking of an over-priced market for some months, with investors also seemingly immune from the warnings. At first call that would seem to have changed overnight with the start of reporting season, as we suspected it might, with significant falls all round, with the exception of Abu Dhabi (+0.99%) and Dubai (+1.99%).
As a the time of writing the Australian market, although generally judged to not be as overvalued as the US, is down around 1.5%, having just completed its second best month for the past year. Timing is everything, and most fund managers will have closed July's books thankful to have booked a positive return, and at least happy they have another 30 days of the month to manage August's performance.
You will note we're not falling into the trap of predicting if this is an overdue correction, and therefore a buying opportunity, or the start of a more serious sell off as Tapering finishes tapering, and rates begin to rise. Ask me in a month or two's time and I should be able to give you a better idea!
On other fronts it's been thankfully quiet in Canberra, while David Murray's Financial System Inquiry has announced a series of upcoming public forums in four capital cities (not quite sure why Adelaide and Hobart missed out, Canberra I do understand) open for anyone to attend, to hear about the Inquiry, ask questions of the Committee, and raise issues for examination by the Inquiry. Those interested can register online or download two summaries of the FSI Interim Report from our library, one from Deloitte, and one from Ernst & Young.
Final round submissions to the Inquiry close on 26th August.
Prism Select and OLIVIA123
Closer to home, this week Australian Fund Monitors released two exiting new products, Prism Select and OLIVIA123.
Prism Select is an information only site which provides details on a small group of funds from our database, with significantly greater depth of information than available on AFM. However, using OLIVIA the significant factor is that investors have the ability to apply for each fund online, which makes completing lengthy and confusing paper based forms a thing of the past.
OLIVIA stand for "On Line Investor Verification & Interactive Applications". That's a mouthful, so OLIVIA seemed much easier. In fact we believe OLIVIA makes applying for a managed fund as easy as One, Two, Three.
There's no cost to investors, but they'll save time and effort, and OLIVIA includes an online AML and KYC module to confirm their identity in real time. We can't be sure, but we believe OLIVIA is not only a first of its kind in Australia, but also the world.
Should you have any questions please visit the site, or contact us for further details.
Specific results received this week include the following PERFORMANCE and NEWS UPDATES:
The Cor Capital Fund returned 7.82% for the 12 months to 30 June 2014 with a volatility of 5.85% and the one month return is 0.76%.
Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund returned 1.09% during June and 12.20% over the previous 12 months as compared to the RBA cash rate over that time of 2.54%.
Performance for the KIS Asia Long Short Fund was 0.95% during June and 11.89% for the previous 12 months with a low volatility of 2.69%.
The Forager Australian Shares Fund returned -0.15% during June and 17.72% over the year-ended June 2014 with a volatility of 11.48%..
Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Australian Fund returned 1.04% during June and 7.93% for the prior 12 months with a low volatility of 2.86%.
FUND REVIEWS released this week include:
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund and also Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund
Tuesday 12th August 2014, from 12pm to 4.30pm - ARRIA is hosting a round table discussion in Sydney, providing a valuable opportunity to meet with like-minded advisers.
Wednesday 13 - Wednesday 20 August: Financial System Inquiry - Public Forums to be held in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. Click here to see dates in your capital city.
Thursday 14th August in Sydney: AIMA Australia Education Forum. The forum will discuss regulatory, tax and other issues, as well as current observations and insights associated with a range of hedge fund investment products, including Australian unit trusts, Cayman funds, UCITS and listed investment companies. It is a "must attend" event for hedge fund managers reviewing their current products or considering development of new products.
14-15 August in Sydney: Alternative Investments Conference - Investigating the rise and rise of non-traditional high yield and low risk investment products, strategies and allocation in an era of prolonged volatility and low returns.
If you would like your Event listed in our calendar, please contact us.
On that note, I hope you have a safe and happy weekend.
Best wishes,
Chris
CEO, AUSTRALIAN FUND MONITORS
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Australian Fund Monitors are helping to raise awareness to support research into prevention and cure for cerebral palsy. For more information visit www.cpresearch.org.au or contact me by email.
