Four wires that caught my eye

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10 outrageous predictions for 2017

Saxo’s outrageous predictions for the year ahead have become one of my favourite things to read each December. The aim is not to make the most accurate prediction, but rather, to encourage readers to ‘think outside the box’ and look for risks that others are ignoring. Last year’s predictions did reasonably well, with Ole Hansen calling the rallies in oil and silver, and Mads Koefoed calling the recovery in Brazil. One of this year’s most interesting calls was from Steen Jakobsen, who thinks Italian banks could be the best performing equity asset in 2017. You can download a copy of this Sponsored Content for free by providing your email via the link here:  (VIEW LINK)

Three critical issues confronting Australian stocks

The end of the year is often a time to reflect on the year that’s past, and to look forward at the year ahead. While many investors like to make predictions on the level of the ASX 200 a year from now, a more practical approach is to look at the potential key issues. Andrew Fleming from Schroders has done exactly this and identified three critical issues for Australian equity investors to watch. One of these issues is the level of ‘neutral’ rates, as “using a bond rate of 3% instead of 2% sees our Westfield, Scentre and Sydney Airport valuations drop 25% and our Transurban valuation fall 15%.” Read about his other two issues here:  (VIEW LINK)

Why Westpac is our pick of the big four

Financials are at an inflexion point coming into 2017, as the prospect of higher interest rates provides a tailwind for both banks and insurers. However, banks also face the prospect of rising bad debts and higher capital requirements, while diversified financial such as AMP continue to face regulatory pressure. Against this backdrop, TS Lim, banking and insurance analyst at Bell Potter, has provided his outlook for the sector, the key themes and data to watch, and his preferences for the big four banks. At the bottom of the post, you'll also find his monthly "Bank Note," providing a full review of the industry:  (VIEW LINK)

Buy Hold Sell: 6 big value stocks

In this week’s Buy Hold Sell, Vince Pezzullo from Perpetual Equity Investment Company joins industry heavyweight John Murray from Perennial Value Management. These two dyed-in-the-wool value investors take us back to basics and discuss six ASX100 ‘value’ stocks from the materials sector. he companies discussed include Boral, Amcor, Bluescope and James Hardie. We also ask our two guests to share a stock they think looks attractive today. Vince picks ‘one of the last resource stocks that hasn’t run yet’, and John calls out a top ten stock set to start increasing its dividend. Watch the video or read the transcript here:  (VIEW LINK)

Chart of the week

Is ‘buy and hold’ dead?​

The chart below shows the declining life cycles of S&P 500 companies. Since the ‘60s, companies have been spending shorter and shorter times among the top 500.

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