Forum Fodder

Forum Fodder | Friday 07 August 2026

“[US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh] may be outsmarting everyone… The pundits see a rookie chairman being schooled by the bond market. Look closer and you see a chairman who has persuaded that market to do his bidding for him, at precisely the moment he is politically forbidden from doing it himself.” - Christopher Joye, Founder and CIO of Coolabah Capital (31 July 2026)

All the best for another week’s continuing education!
Graham

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Finology | Philosophy

25th Annual Strategies Summit 2026 “Eyes on the prize!”
AEST Wednesday 19 August 2026 | 7+ CE/CPD hrs | A$395+GST (Practitioner)
Join us in our Live Studio, Live Site, or via Live Stream
Register now!
The purpose of investing is not simply to accumulate wealth. The real “prize” is financial wellbeing, won by helping clients stay focused on what ultimately matters - achieving their goals, improving their quality of life, and providing for the people who matter most, throughout both the accumulation and decumulation phases of life.
That’s far easier said than done.
At Markets Summit in February, we agreed we are living in a whole new world (again)! - the investment environment that shaped portfolio construction over the past three decades no longer exists. Geopolitical fragmentation, technological disruption, fiscal expansion, energy security concerns and changing market structures have altered the very foundations on which many portfolios have been built. Investors who continue to rely on traditional diversification assumptions and portfolio frameworks may not fully appreciate the risks to which their portfolios may be exposed.
Portfolio construction must evolve to reflect a structurally different world. For investment and wealth professionals, that means rethinking assumptions, broadening perspectives, and adopting a Whole Brain Approach to portfolio construction strategies.
As Yogi Berra famously observed: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Eyes on the prize!
Strategies Summit 2026 will challenge and refresh your portfolio construction thinking through robust debate of contemporary and emerging portfolio construction strategies to help you build better quality portfolios designed to improve client financial wellbeing.

Markets

Oil shocks are no longer so shocking
The Persian Gulf is in an unstable disequilibrium. While the economic impact has been relatively modest, recent developments do suggest that the tail risks are larger than financial markets are currently pricing in.
Nouriel Roubini, Macro Associates | Read

Investing | Finology | Philosophy | See Clare at Strategies Summit 2026 (19 Aug) - Register now!

The Inquisitor: Behaviour is key to alpha - Clare Flynn Levy
Behavioural analysis enables a deeper insight into fund performance and the identification of highly skilled managers capable of generating consistent investment alpha.
Robert Huebscher, Portfolio Construction Forum | 0.75 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets

Trade finance is a portfolio diversifier
Dating back to the 13th century, trade finance - loans that provide short-term financing to support the physical flow of goods - is one of the oldest forms of credit. More investors are turning towards this asset class as a diversifier in their portfolios.
Federated Hermes | 0.25 CE | Read

Strategies | Markets

Market Signals: The AI boom has met its capital constraint
Markets experienced one of the most violent reversals of the artificial-intelligence cycle during the past week, but the most important development was not the fall itself. It was what happened next.
Nick Schoenmaker, Portfolio Construction Forum | 0.25 CE | Read

Finology | Philosophy | * Premium *

Behavioural Finance: Investment decision-making short course
Led by behavioural finance expert, Herman Brodie, this online, on-demand course completed at your own pace will help you identify, analyse and evaluate the principal human preferences that influence decision-making in situations of uncertainty, so you can recognise and identify these preferences in others, to improve investment decision-making.
Herman Brodie | 8.00 CE (incl 1.00 ethics) | Enrol

Markets

How safe are today’s blockbuster tech stocks?
Questions about the financial implications of AI and space travel have led to a veritable analogy-fest. Is this a replay of the railway boom of the 1870s? A repeat of the electrification boom of the 1890s?
Barry Eichengreen, University of California | Read

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Finology | Philosophy

Private market lessons from New York
Portfolio Construction Forum’s inaugural Private Markets International Short Course in New York could not have been more timely, as private markets moved through a structural inflection during April, May, and June, driven by rising liquidity demands, regulatory scrutiny, and the rapid funding of AI initiatives.
Nick Schoenmaker, Portfolio Construction Forum | Read

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Markets Summit 2026

It’s a whole new world of asset class opportunities (Equities)
Powerful cyclical, secular and structural changes are reshaping the outlook for asset classes and opportunities abound for those able to reorientate investment portfolios accordingly. This panel debated the outlook for global equities and liquid alternatives.
David Steinthal, Billy Leung, Suhail Shaikh | 0.75 CE | Watch, Listen

Finology | Philosophy

Research Review: How culture shapes our moral reasoning
Practitioners are increasingly in the business of navigating - and helping clients navigate - the complex moral landscape of investing. This paper explores the extent to which culture impacts on our morality.
Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.00 CE (Ethics) | Read

Strategies | Markets

Market Signals: The market is starting to differentiate
The next phase of the cycle may not be determined by who spends the most capital. It may be determined by who earns the highest return on that capital. That is a more demanding environment. It is also a healthier one.
Nick Schoenmaker, Portfolio Construction Forum | 0.25 CE | Read

Markets

Reading between China’s red lines
Xi’s recent blunt remarks in Beijing suggest that China has now gone much further in sharpening its focus on Taiwan.
Stephen Roach, Yale University | Read

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Markets Summit 2026

Unconscious and concentrated – it’s no time to be passive
We’re witnessing a profound and transformation shift in markets and economies, marked by an end to globalisation and a focus on national priorities, intertwined with the drive for AI supremacy. This is not time to be inactive!
Brett Lewthwaite, Macquarie Asset Management | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Markets Summit 2026

Small caps’ structural advantage is durable and deepening
The dominance of passive investing and mega-cap concentration has created a widening structural opportunity in small-cap equities - the widest inefficiency in public equity markets and a compelling return outlook.
Greg Dean, Langdon Equity Partners | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Markets Summit 2026

It’s a whole new world of asset class opportunities (Debt)
Powerful cyclical, secular and structural changes are reshaping the outlook for asset classes. This panel debated the outlook for real assets, global absolute return debt, and Australian and international private credit.
Michael Meehan, James McAlevey, Andrew Lockhart, Ji He | 1.00 CE | Watch, Listen

Forum CE Library - over 1,000 CE/CPD hours
Complimentary for all Forum members, the Forum’s online on-demand CE Library offers hours of accredited learning resources, to help members meet the CE/CPD requirements of 20+ governing bodies (regulators, associations, and institutes) including ASIC, APRA, Legislated (AU)/FAAA, FMA and CIMA^® CE/CPD requirements, to name just a few.
Earn CE/CPD hours

Forum CIMA CE Library - over 170 CE hours
This subset of our full CE Library features just those learning resources that are accredited for CIMA CE hours, so CIMA certificants can more easily find learning resources to meet their recertification obligation (at the same time as meeting the CE/CPD requirements of other governing bodies e.g. ASIC, APRA, Legislated (AU)/FAAA, FMA etc).
Earn CIMA CE hours

Connect with us on LinkedIn
We let my LinkedIn network know as soon as we release new articles on portfolioconstructionforum.ac.nz and when registration opens for our face-to-face CE programs. And of course, I’d welcome having an offline direct conversation with you any time.