Global sharemarkets are looking ugly on the back of Russia v Ukraine
The unrest around Russia and Ukraine has given investors that much more to be worried about. With the increase in global sanctions, the market is now pricing in higher energy prices and seeing significant risk aversion.
This has been highlighted by the Nasdaq which has now tumbled more than 15% so far this year, while the S&P500 confirmed a correction in the previous session, when the index ended down more than 10% from its 3 January closing record high.
Our share market has only fallen 7%, largely due to a much better than expected reporting season from the banks and the big miners.
So where to from here? Do you just ride the wave, or trade? For most of us who are invested in superannuation, our employers are making contributions at weekly, monthly or quarterly intervals, so we are buying into this market.
For others it depends on your risk profile and what I like to call the ‘sleep test’. That is, can you sleep at night with your current or future investments? Or are you worried about them too much? Feel free to reach out if we can help.
In other news, we are in the second last week of reporting season and here are a few stocks that caught my eye.
Qantas – A $1.3b loss this year, versus $1b last year, and no dividend as expected. They forecast a $650m Omicron impact, however capacity has increased. Domestic travel is now at 68% of pre-COVID levels and International is at 22%. Liquidity looks good, their debt has decreased to $5.5b in 2H and they have $4.3b in cash.
Nine Entertainment Co. today released its results for the 6 months to December 2021. For the period, Nine reported revenue of $1.3b, a net profit after tax of $213m, and a 40% increase in interim dividend to 7.0 cents per share thanks to continued audience strength across all key platforms – free to air TV, 9Now, publishing, radio and Stan. Stan was a standout with growth to over 2.5 million active subscribers, driving 23% revenue growth.
West Texas intermediate crude is up 3.2% to $US94 per barrel at the time of writing, and Brent crude is up 1.5% to a new seven-year high of $US97.66. Gold prices are at a 15-month high in Australian dollars, $2,653.58 per ounce, and at a 12-month high in US dollars at $US1,908.62 per ounce as investors seek safe-havens.
