Investors are becoming increasingly fearful that the glorious period of rising asset prices that they’ve enjoyed over the past four decades is coming to an end, writes Karen Maley.In his March market update, Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, said “risks have moved significantly higher”.
“We recently downgraded our top-down EPS forecasts, on the back of sharply rising energy bills, weaker consumption, supply disruptions, shipping costs and potential gas disruptions, which will weigh on both revenues and net income margins. We now expect 2022 EPS growth at 2 per cent ; consensus is at 13 per cent.
Margin, near all-time highs, could start to come under pressure with higher input costs , Goldman said. “We believe that we are transitioning from a decade of focusing on top-line growth to a cycle where investors will focus increasingly on margins. We will monitor closely news on margins, as consensus expects the path of margins to stay high and the bar for positive surprises is high.”NAB on key data from China this week: ”China inflation figures are published on Monday.
Short interest accounts for a tiny portion of most tech companies’ free-floating shares in Hong Kong. Still, the increasing demand for downside protection when stocks rebound reflects how cautious investors are because of Beijing’s new regulations, worsening COVID-19 lockdowns in China and US interest rate increases. It’s already paying off, with the tech index dropping Friday for a third day.