Quick update: Thoughts on CSL valuation

CSL is well owned across Australian investor portfolios, including Banyantree Australian Core Equity strategy. The recent share price decline has caused us as much angst as anyway else. CSL’s recent share price decline and overall trend over the past 1 year (price down from ~$310 to $220) has raised a few questions. In our report (attached … Read more

Gold – is it still worth it?

On gold, the question we are not asking is whether the price will go up or down and concerns around the price being at an all time high. The question for us is more a portfolio construction and diversification one. Do we believe gold [as perceived by the market (remember: in our view history rhymes … Read more

The increasingly noisy US jobs data

Although the headlines will be all about the US jobs data it was probably a combination of factors that triggered the big fall in US yields on Friday night. In no particular order here is the Friday night list: Non-farm payrolls plus 74,000 jobs added in July. June payrolls were revised down from 147,000 to … Read more

The RBA should cut the cash rate in August

The latest Australian inflation data is only likely to increase investors’ expectations for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut the RBA cash rate further in the current easing cycle. Australia’s consumer price index (CPI) for all groups increased +0.7% for the June 2025 quarter or +2.1% on an annualised basis. The more closely … Read more

All eyes on the labour market

US Economic Outlook Last week’s non-farm payrolls number of 147,000 was far in excess of the market’s expectations of 110,000. Ordinarily we would not see this as significant for the bond market because a 125,000 monthly increase is required to keep the unemployment rate steady and so a reading in one month of either 147,000 … Read more

European equities – Maybe this time?

European equities are increasingly gaining favour among global investors at the expense of U.S. equities. Funds flow data and recent performance point to this fact. The question is whether this trend is sustainable? Europe’s STOXX 600 Index has experienced a sustained, long underperformance relative to U.S. equities (S&P 500 Index) since the global financial crisis. … Read more