July Newsletter 2024

Welcome to the new financial year! With the shortest day behind us, the longer days ahead will allow us to enjoy the outdoors, even if there’s still a need to rug up.

The Centaur Team is thrilled to announce that Anthony Mirandilla, bringing over 17+ years of experience as a Financial Adviser, will be joining us on the 15th of July. We are so excited for Anthony to join us, and we can’t wait for our clients to meet him. We will be sharing more details of his arrival with you all in due course.

Technology stocks have driven Australian shares, and global markets, to new highs in the last 12 months. The S&P/ASX 200 finished the financial year 7.8% higher, slightly less than the previous year. Technology stocks gained 28% during the year.

In the US, the S&P 500 index rose 14% in the first six months of 2024 in one of the strongest performances since the dotcom bubble of the 1990s. Tech stocks were behind much of the gain, in particular AI chipmaker Nvidia, which overtook Microsoft and Apple as the world’s most valuable public company last month.

An interest rate cut is widely expected in September in the US but in Australia, many commentators predict another rate increase before the end of the year to help tame inflation. The RBA left interest rates unchanged at 4.35% at its June meeting but news that annual CPI was up by 4.0% in May compared with 3.6% in April will give the Bank cause for concern.

The Australian dollar ended the financial year almost where it began at just under US67 cents, after 12 months of volatility with highs of almost US69 cents and lows under US63 cents.