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Hedge Clippings | Friday, 14 May 2021
This week's federal budget contained the usual bag of surprises - namely very few. As has become the norm on both sides of politics, most of the announcements due on the night were pre-released in a series of carefully planned "leaks" which seems to make the concept of a "lock up" for journalists somewhat of a waste of time.
Hedge Clippings has to admit to some degree of bias when it comes to politics and therefore this week's federal budget. The reality is that everyone has an opinion and depending on perspective, point of view, and/or personal situation you are either going to think it was good, bad, or be indifferent.
As an employed WASP, not dependant on a government handout, not in aged care (yet, but moving towards the front of the queue) or having any children in care, meant there was no excuse to break out the Bollinger. I suppose that makes us indifferent, but who needs an excuse?
On the other hand, as the Treasurer noted, the economy is going gangbusters in spite of COVID-19. In fact, one could argue that the reason it is doing so well is thanks to COVID - or at least the government's response to the global pandemic. Hence our degree of bias, as mentioned above. If the economy's going gangbusters the majority, but admittedly not all, of the people will benefit.
Pity poor Anthony Albanese - he didn't have much to hang his hat on in his budget reply. But, as this clip of the Opposition's reaction to the Federal budget shows, opposition leaders not only love to whinge, it's expected of them. And you only need to listen to the first couple of minutes (not the full, boring 1 hour and 7 minutes version) to understand why we think, irrespective of no international travel for another 12 months or more, that most Australians are better off here, than elsewhere.
Rightly or wrongly Hedge Clippings is of the opinion that - give or take a few mis-steps - Australians have on the whole been well served by governments both state and federal since COVID emerged from Wuhan in late 2019 - although we sometimes wish they'd stop the political point scoring, but we do admit they are, after all, politicians.
Closing the border with China early in 2020, and then the rest of the world, was a smart move that's kept the majority of Australians safe and healthy. As was the heavily criticised ban on Australians returning from India, based on the latest report that the first repatriation flight took off half empty after 40 passengers tested positive.
Throwing a few $tn's in every direction initially kept the majority of individuals who needed support, supported, and businesses open. Not perfect, as some didn't need the support, but better to be generous than otherwise, even if future generations may not agree.
In spite of all this, it seems there's a wall of discontented whingers - or maybe just some very vocal ones, making the most of their opportunity to stand up and have a go when most of the news - bad Covid numbers overseas or inability to travel - is just a repetition of yesterday's or last week's feed.
OK, off the soapbox - back to funds and performances.
Equity based funds continue to benefit from equity markets with the ASX200 total return up 31% over 12 months to the end of April, and the S&P500 up 46% over the same period. 65% of equity based funds have outperformed the ASX200, with 94% of all funds providing a positive return over 12 months.
In April, equity funds provided the usual mix of performances - with the best - Paragon's Australian Long/Short Fund returning 23.6% for the month to take their one year performance just shy of 100%. Full details of all fund returns are available here, and there's the usual roundup below.
News & Insights
New Funds on Fundmonitors.com
The market is overreacting by Montaka Global Investments
Warnings from the most successful bank CEO by Arminius Capital
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