Market commentary

There is considerable academic and market commentary showing that equity markets often take time – sometimes weeks or months – to digest new information fully.

While Eugene Fama’s efficient market hypothesis posits that prices reflect available information almost instantly, we know that information is not evenly distributed. For example, studies on “post-earnings announcement drift” demonstrate that after companies release quarterly results, share prices tend to drift in the direction of the earnings surprise for an extended period. This implies investors initially underreact. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Market commentary.

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As August 2025 has now wrapped up, Australia’s reporting season has again delivered a snapshot of the economy’s trajectory. For years, we’ve heard the refrain of a “resilient” domestic market weathering global headwinds, interest rate hikes, and inflationary pressures. But this time around, the narrative has evolved. Companies across the ASX are signalling that resilience is giving way to tentative recovery, particularly in consumer spending and the housing sectors. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Companies, Market commentary.

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Over the weekend, many Australians took to the streets to raise awareness about the adverse consequences and costs of Australia’s current migration policy. Those marches were peaceful, except, of course, in Victoria (where the government has legislated, or seeks to legislate, working from home and stealing from Woolworths, Bunnings, and Coles). Unfortunately, a radical element has grabbed the headlines, but setting those headlines aside, it is worth noting that the current architects of Australia’s migration policy have MPs who agree the system is broken and failing to deliver for Australia. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Market commentary.

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You might not like the man or his personality, but I wonder whether a new brand of capitalism and a new brand of government are emerging that prioritise the greater good. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Market commentary.

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I joined Michael Thompson on FEAR + GREED podcast to unpack one of the most volatile reporting seasons in recent memory. From sharp share price swings to three key lessons for investors — including signs of recovery, earnings downgrades, and the resurgence of small caps — this episode cuts through the noise to help you make sense of the market.

Listen to the full episode here:

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Market commentary, Podcast Channel.

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In April this year, as U.S. equity markets fell – dragged down by Trump tariff headlines and inflation fears – long bond yields, arguably, should have declined as investors fled to safety. At first, the 10‑year Treasury yield dipped to 3.86 per cent on April 4, but by April 9, rather than continuing to fall, yields surged, with the 10‑year up to around 4.50 per cent and the 30‑year jumping 54 basis points – breaking the usual inverse correlation between stocks and bonds. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Economics, Market commentary.

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In what is yet another controversial move, US President Donald Trump has asserted federal authority over the Washington, D.C., police department while mobilising 800 National Guard troops to the nation’s capital. He frames the move and deployment as a necessary response to rampant crime, but critics argue it reveals deeper authoritarian tendencies. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Market commentary.

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I am fascinated by the standard descriptions of returns cited by commentators in the real estate market. I am also disappointed that a regular opportunity to educate investors about returns is so frequently missed. 

Back in July, an article in The Australian Financial Review, entitled Renovators’ return: How to maximise property value in 2025, observed, “The nurse and engineer have transformed the house they bought in Adelaide’s seaside Glenelg for $450,000 back in 2012. They’re now looking to sell for $1.9 million, a four-fold return compared with the doubling of house prices over the same period.” continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Market commentary.

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Since the advent of the car, railroads or electricity, few technologies have captured investor imagination quite like generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).  

The debut of AI tools like ChatGPT has attracted billions in research and development (R&D) and related construction investment at the same time that share market investors have poured trillions into AI-related stocks, inflating valuations to levels that some suggest should make even the dot-com era blush.   continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Market commentary.

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Kenneth Rogoff, the American economist, chess Grandmaster, professor of international economics at Harvard University, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist and co-author of This Time is Different: Eight centuries of Financial Folly, has spent his career chronicling the anatomy of financial collapses. In his latest article for Foreign Affairs (Sep/Oct 2025), Rogoff issues a stark warning: the U.S. is flirting with a once-in-a-century debt crisis – and its current political and economic trajectory makes a crisis not just possible, but probable. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Foreign Currency, Global markets, Market commentary.

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