While the long-expected recession hasn’t arrived, macroeconomic conditions continue to remain clouded. Inflation remains sticky, interest rates have continued to rise, and consumer confidence has flatlined, leading to mixed company earnings outlooks - making it more difficult for investors to find resilient sources of growth.

With these on-going macroeconomic crosswinds, we believe it is critical to be well-diversified and avoid any particular investment style bias, such as growth, value or quality.

Chief Investment Officer, Sean Fenton and Portfolio Manager, James Delaney discuss how the current market backdrop is impacting Australian equities, including the sectors well positioned for the remainder of the year.

Topics covered

• 0:00 – Introduction
• 1:55 – A detailed recap of the macroeconomic crosswinds affecting Australian equities, including how higher interest rates continue to squeeze growth and the mounting concern of sticky inflation.
• 8:55 – The pressures and risks in the US and domestic economies and what this could mean for equity markets?
• 15:02 – The characteristics of the growth vs valuation trade-off relative to the sector exposure of the eight Sage Groups.
• 17:00 – A comprehensive wrap-up on the winners and losers from the recent reporting season, including the sectors, stocks and themes that stood out.
• 32:43 – Where we are seeing value in the portfolio, and the key drivers that have impacted portfolio returns including the sectors and stocks offering the strongest performance.
• 39:53 – Market outlook for Australian equities leading into 2024.
• 41:31 – Audience Q&A