We are pleased to share that earlier this week ASB Bank completed the sale of its custodial and administration service – known as Aegis – to MMC Ltd. From our clients’ perspectives, it is business as usual at Aegis. There will not be any obvious change in the Aegis portal or its reports, and clients will continue to receive the best service possible from the Aegis team.
In New Zealand, recent data has been modestly encouraging about the prospects for business activity...
While geopolitical risks remain high, at the moment investment sentiment has turned more positive on a potential (if only partial) resolution of the U.S.-China trade disputes. Growth assets have consequently benefited, while the prospect of a pick-up in world growth, and reduced demand for defensive boltholes, have led to sell-offs for bonds and bond proxies.…
In New Zealand, recent business and other surveys have generally been downbeat...
The economic outlook suggests ongoing global growth...
Global equities have continued to recover from previous losses, as investors have become less concerned about recession risks and damage to the world economy from U.S-China trade frictions. A consequence has been a global rise in bond yields as investors have felt less need to buy safe-haven assets as insurance against downside risks…
At home, while income-oriented buying has boosted equities, it is now getting harder to find attractive investment options...
The past few weeks have been dominated by geopolitical uncertainty, particularly the prospect of a US-China trade war and its potential impact on global business activity: Equity markets have whipsawed as trade tensions have risen or receded. The other major development has been further declines in local and global interest rates to even lower levels....