Despite all the talk, the fact that Australian banks loan books are heavily concentrated in low risk residential mortgages should be a source of comfort, not fear.

The IMR Conference 2017 (28-29 September 2017) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Forum CE hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE acceditation.

This week, Fodder starts with Ruth Richardson's presentation from our recent Strategies Conference. Nouriel Roubini gives his take on why inflation has not picked up, despite global growth accelerating. Dr Bob Gay argues that the Fed is only a little behind the curve. Tim Farrelly takes aim at the belief that Australian investors should reduce their Aussie equity holdings and we end with Professor Ron Bird reviewing two "colourful" recent investment research papers.

This week, Fodder starts with Ruth Richardson's presentation from our recent Strategies Conference. Nouriel Roubini gives his take on why inflation has not picked up, despite global growth accelerating. Dr Bob Gay argues that the Fed is only a little behind the curve. Tim Farrelly takes aim at the belief that Australian investors should reduce their Aussie equity holdings and we end with Professor Ron Bird reviewing two "colourful" recent investment research papers.

Two recent studies provide evidence that issues unrelated to the fundamental operation of a firm impact their market valuation.

Many observers conclude that the Fed is behind the curve because a central bank supposedly should not persist with a negative real policy rate at full employment. That is correct - but the question remains "how much?"

The IMCA Conference (19/20 Sep 2017) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Forum CE hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE acceditation.

Since mid 2016, the global economy has been in a period of moderate expansion - yet inflation has not picked up. Why?

Simply observing the concentration inherent in the index and reducing Australian Equity weights is throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. It’s nuts and you can clearly see it’s nuts.

The Conexus Absolute Returns Conference (14 September 2017) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Forum CE hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE acceditation.

The IMCA Seminar 7 2017 (12 & 14 Sep) has been assessed and accredited by PortfolioConstruction Forum for Forum CE hours. Delegates must attest their attendance in order to receive CE acceditation.

The Conexus Equities Summit (12 September 2017) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Forum CE hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE acceditation.

This week in Fodder, Dr Woody Brock explains that the IT revolution of the past 20 years has driven unmeasured productivity growth and caused inflation and interest rates to fall. Yale's Stephen Roach warns that the US has more to lose than China in Trump's threatened trade conflict. We feature Michael Kitces's presentation on better ways to rebalance portfolios. Michael Edesess highlights three new research papers that point to possible problems in quant research on anomalies. And we finish with another take on exploiting anomalies by PM Capital's Paul Moore

This week in Fodder, Dr Woody Brock explains that the IT revolution of the past 20 years has driven unmeasured productivity growth and caused inflation and interest rates to fall. Yale's Stephen Roach warns that the US has more to lose than China in Trump's threatened trade conflict. We feature Michael Kitces's presentation on better ways to rebalance portfolios. Michael Edesess highlights three new research papers that point to possible problems in quant research on anomalies. And we finish with another take on exploiting anomalies by PM Capital's Paul Moore

The "anomalies" literature is the scientific foundation for quantitative asset management. But as three recent papers point out, "p-hacking" is only the beginning of anomalies research problems.

Twenty years ago, I predicted that the Digital Revolution would cause productivity growth to accelerate and inflation and interest rates to fall for a very long period. We now believe this trend will continue for at least another 10 and probably 20 years.

Magellan is innovating again, this time raising money for what's been called a "monster" closed-end listed investment trust (LIT) with features that dramatically raise the bar for the standard model of closed end listed investment vehicles.

This week in Fodder, we feature Professor Moshe Milevsky's top-rated presentation from our recent Strategies Conference, Tim Farrelly highlights two areas where practitioners have a clear advantage over the best fund managers, Dom McCormick analyses the pro's and con's of participating in Magellan's upcoming "monster" closed end listed investment trust IPO. Harvard's Prof Carmen Reinhart warns that while the dollar's status as the world's major reserve currency makes it easy for the US to keep running its 25-year long current-account deficit, it doesn't make it a good idea. And the economics team from Payden & Rygel have created a whiteboard animation to explain why investors can stop worrying about the impact on long-term interest rates of the Fed shrinking its balance sheet.

This week in Fodder, we feature Professor Moshe Milevsky's top-rated presentation from our recent Strategies Conference, Tim Farrelly highlights two areas where practitioners have a clear advantage over the best fund managers, Dom McCormick analyses the pro's and con's of participating in Magellan's upcoming "monster" closed end listed investment trust IPO. Harvard's Prof Carmen Reinhart warns that while the dollar's status as the world's major reserve currency makes it easy for the US to keep running its 25-year long current-account deficit, it doesn't make it a good idea. And the economics team from Payden & Rygel have created a whiteboard animation to explain why investors can stop worrying about the impact on long-term interest rates of the Fed shrinking its balance sheet.

The US has run chronic current-account deficits for almost two generations. Pointing the finger at surplus countries is getting old.