2003 :

• 4th Quarter 2003: Interest rates - how low will they go?
  The current domestic interest rate environment highlights that it is not possible to please everyone all of the time. After experiencing a 4% rise in our domestic interest rates during the course of last year, we have so far this year witnessed four interest rate cuts totalling 5%. Prime, now at 12%, is at its lowest level in 17 years. In a survey of private sector economists conducted recently by I-Net Bridge, the general view was that there is likely to be one further cut in domestic interest rates of 1% in February 2004, which they expect to be the final reduction in this current easing cycle. [ More... ]

• 3rd Quarter 2003: Is spring in the air?
  Spring is usually synonymous with hope, fresh beginnings and the anticipation of good things to come. If the breath of fresh air that has been blowing through global markets since mid March is anything to go by, it would not be out of place to wonder whether markets are indeed entering a new season, after having endured a harsh winter that has lasted (so far) some 36 months. [ More... ]

• 2nd Quarter 2003: The three "d's" of investing - diversification, diversification, diversification
  All of us, at some time or other over the past three years, will have questioned the rationale of being invested in local and international markets. The current bear market, which began in March 2000, has been fuelled by one event after the other. [ More... ]

• 1st Quarter 2003: The winds of war?
  The impact of a potential US lead war against Iraq has undoubtedly dominated global markets during the quarter under review (December through to end February). From as early as September last year the Federal Reserve reportedly raised the topic of "geopolitical uncertainty" and its impact on the American economy, when announcing their interest rate decisions. In the latest monetary policy statement issued by the Federal Reserve, the current tensions with Iraq have been given most of the blame for the current economic uncertainty prevailing in the USA. [ More... ]