Slack Investor remains IN for US, UK Index Funds. The jury is still out for Australian index shares.
Nervousness has crept into all markets as uncertainty on world trade (Thanks Donald!), Brexit, future US rate rises, and stock valuations prevail. The FTSE 100 is down 2.1% and S&P 500 is up 1.8% for the month.
The Australian ASX 200 is down a further 2.8% to 5667 and has slipped below its designated monthly stop loss of 5724. This is usually an automatic sell for the ASX 200 index. However, Slack Investor is hesitant to trade against momentum and the orange buffoon (President Trump) and President Xi from China have just come to a “Partial Truce” on their trade war for 90 days at the G20 summit. This “temporary certainty” will be good for world stocks and a bounce in most stock markets will probably happen on Monday 3 December – ASX 200 you have had a temporary reprieve!
All Index pages and charts have been updated to reflect the monthly changes – (ASX Index, UK Index, US Index).
Hayne Train Eases into the Station
Established Slack Investor Hero Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne wraps up his enquiry into the finance sector after 8 grueling months and 770 000 documents. and concludes his epic and momentous gathering of evidence. His interim report has suggested big changes to a flabby and rorting finance industry.
Through persistent effort, a new Slack Investor rolled gold Hero has also emerged. Senior counsel assisting the commission, Rowena Orr QC has covered herself with glory from the Royal Commission fray (With a special mention to her alternate senior counsel Michael Hodge, QC).
Through persistent effort and an understated forensic style , Ms Orr has been responsible for grilling a parade of witnesses to reveal a shabby record of commissions, bribery, unfair payments, improper board oversight and rorts that have brought shame to the Australian Finance Industry.
… marshalling her facts patiently, leaving people in the witness box with nowhere to run from her logic, where they don’t know they’ve been filleted until they leave the room – from The Guardian
For example, When Ms Orr cross interviewed the Chief risk officer of ANZ’s digital and wealth arms, Kylie Rixon, about the raft of bad advice given to customers by bank financial advisors.
“One in every 20 pieces of advice given to customers failed to meet the requirement that the advice was likely to be in the best interest of the client?” Ms Orr asked.
“For the sample selected, yes that’s correct,” Ms Rixon said.
Later, Ms Orr asked: “What’s sampled in an audit is meant to be representative of what’s happening across the business?”
“Yes, that’s true,” Ms Rixon replied. – from abc News
Power to your Ms Orr. With hearings finalized, Commissioner Hayne and his team withdraw temporarily from the limelight to write their report. Slack Investor looks forward to their recommendations.