The latest edition of our email newsletter has been sent to subscribers.
In this edition we:
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discuss the topic of unlisted assets and suggest investors carefully check the nature of any unlisted assets before switching into this asset class,
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look at S&P's latest World by Numbers publication,
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summarise the movements in markets since the last edition including 3, 5 and 10 year return history,
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encourage readers to switch off or turn doen the financial media they are listening to,
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provide a link to Scott Francis' latest Eureka Report articles,
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link to recent videos uploaded to the Fama & French Forum,
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provide evidence of the three factor model in action, and
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provide links to podcasts recently uploaded to the website.
Click on the following link to have a look at the full newsletter - Financial Fortnight That Was - 16th June 2009.
The market update section is set out below:
ASX P/E Ratio and Dividend Yields
The P/E ratio is a common broad indicator of the price of shares. It is a calculation of the price of shares compared to expected earnings. A higher ratio indicates that share prices are more expensive. The historical P/E ratio for the ASX has been between 14 & 15. The dividend yield is the calculation of dividend payments divided by the market capitalisation of the company or index. The historical average in Australia is around 4%.
As of June 9th the P/E ratio for the S&P/ASX 200 was 10.78. The dividend yield was 5.26%.
Volatility Index (VIX)
Another index we are keeping an eye on in the USA is the CBOE Volatility Index. This index purports to be a key measure of market expectations of near term volatility conveyed by the S&P 500 share index. The higher the level of index, the higher are expectations for volatility in the S&P 500 index. For more information on how the VIX is calculated please take a look at - www.cboe.com/micro/vix/introduction.aspx
The latest close for the index was at a level of 30.81. This is slightly higher than the 12 month low of 26.57 but well off the 12 month high of 80.74.
Market Indices
|
|
Since last ed. |
Since Start of 2009 |
1 Year |
3 Year |
5 Year |
10 Year |
|
Australian Shares |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S&P - ASX 200 |
7.99% |
9.13% |
-23.78% |
-6.48% |
3.22% |
NA * |
|
International Shares |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MSCI World - Ex Australia |
5.66% |
8.34% |
-26.94% |
-6.48% |
0.23% |
-0.76% |
|
MSCI Emerging Markets |
5.29% |
34.47% |
-20.03% |
8.23% |
15.53% |
11.25% |
|
Property |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S&P - ASX 200 REIT |
16.90% |
-13.59% |
-49.17% |
-27.04% |
-13.70% |
NA * |
|
S&P/Citigroup Global REIT - Ex Australia - World - AUD |
4.34% |
-15.72% |
-32.08% |
-17.88% |
-3.05% |
4.77% |
|
Currency |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US Exchange Rate |
4.71% |
17.54% |
-13.18% |
3.01% |
3.25% |
2.07% |
|
Trade Weighted Index |
4.66% |
17.09% |
-9.64% |
1.46% |
1.77% |
1.04% |
* - Data unavailable as ASX 200 only commenced on 31st March 2000
General News
The following major economic parameters have been announced since the previous edition:
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Unemployment now at 5.7% (predicted to rise to 8.25% in Federal budget)
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Economic growth of 0.4% in the March quarter 2009 and 0.4% for the year.
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RBA left official interest rates at 3.0% in the June board meeting.
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Westpac-Melbourne Institue consumer confidence index has risen to 100.1 in June, a 12.7% rise.
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NAB business confidence index moved from minus 14 to minus 2.
Regards,
Scott Keefer
