A confluence of events is occurring which should make this year the best for managed fund inflows since 1999. Factor X for markets in 2003 is unlikely to be war - history shows that the exceptional events tend to be apolitical. InvestorInfo's Greg Bright opines.

Greg Bright

Boutique managers are becoming increasingly popular, but do they add value? Yes and No, according to van Eyk Research managing director Stephen van Eyk in his presentation to the recent inaugural meeting of the Portfolio Construction Forum Researchers’ Roundtable. The following article summarises Stephen's rationale, and links to his presentation, including performance analysis of more than 30 boutique, medium and large Australian equity fund managers.

Anthony Davies

This is an absolute must read article. Bob reports on the presentation by Donald Ratajczak, former chairperson of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, on the outlook for the US economy, particularly the potential for a "double-dip" recession. Other issues addressed by Ratajczak; Is the bubble burst like Japan's? What about energy prices? Are stocks overpriced? Is deflation on the horizon?

Bob Veres, Inside Information

The following is a PDF of two presentations from the inaugural Portfolio Construction Forum on 7 August 2002.
1. Graham Rich's introduction of the AAB.
2. the AAB's presentation of its TAA.

Hedging international equity investments against currency movements is a widespread practice among super funds, but what hedging ratio should funds aim for? With the $A on the rise, this may well become one of 2003's big questions. Investor Weekly's Kate Mills reports.

Kate Mills