Archives

January was a good month for most of our portfolios, despite the broader markets being down for the month. This is because our allocations to smaller companies and to emerging market stocks [...]

What an eventful year. Before we look ahead to 2021, let us take a look back at how stocks and bonds performed in 2020 and see what happened. Exhibit 1: Performance of major indices 2020 (USD [...]

We have spent a lot of time and effort reminding our clients to 1) be invested and 2) stay invested over the past year. Sometimes, it is not evident why we encourage clients to do so, especially [...]

October was a prime example of the uncertainty facing investors in 2020. On one hand, we have improving economic data reviving hopes that a deep recession will be avoided, sending stocks higher [...]

If you read the news headlines in September, you would not be too amiss for thinking that the stock markets are again in dire shape. News about COVID-19 cases rising in Europe and the US, along [...]

We would like to start off by thanking our clients for staying invested with us through the recent market stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. By staying invested, we have avoided realizing a [...]

Are stock markets not seeing the economic reality? Stock markets continued to rise in July, led by the major tech companies that turned in strong results for 2Q 2020. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, [...]

Stock markets lost some momentum going into June, with the S&P 500 up only 1.8% for the month after a blockbuster April and May. Emerging Markets picked up the slack by rising over 7% in June [...]

One of the core tenets of Providend’s Investment Philosophy is that we have a long-term focus. This means that we stay invested to capture the long-term asset class returns. We do not trade the [...]

This week marks the 4th week or mid-point of Singapore’s circuit breaker period which began on 7th April. It is a time that is unprecedented in our history, with the streets rather empty of cars, [...]

Without a doubt, this has been one of the worst quarters in financial markets in a long time, and the worst since 2008. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented pause in economic [...]

We are writing our usual end of month review a little earlier to give you an update on the markets as recent trends of the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-COV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory [...]

We ended January with a note to clients on the impact that the Coronavirus is likely to have on our portfolios and discussed various ways our portfolios manage risk to reduce the downside impact [...]

Just like that, 2019 has gone by and US markets have had the best year this decade since 2013. If that sounds surprising, it’s only because of how quickly we recovered from the pain of 2018, [...]

Equity markets delivered another stellar month in November as the US market continued to make new highs with the S&P 500 notching up more record closes in the month. Supported by the [...]

Equity markets continued their ascent with the S&P 500 setting a record close to 3037.56, up 2.04% for the month. The MSCI World was up 2.54% and the MSCI EM was up 4.22% as both Global and [...]

The rumours of the demise of the value premium have been greatly exaggerated. We begin with a paraphrase of a quote from the famous author Mark Twain when asked about his health by a reporter. [...]

The trade war flared up in August as both the US and China signalled that they would impose new tariffs on imports. These tariffs did come into effect on 1st September, with the US imposing 15% [...]

The start of August marks an important milestone for Providend, as it has been three years since we started incorporating Evidence-Based funds from Dimensional, and Index funds from Vanguard into [...]

As the first half to 2019 draws to a close, the equity markets are celebrating one of the best first-half performances for a year in a long time. In fact, the S&P 500 has posted its best [...]

If we look at the historical data, the old saying of “Sell in May and go away” isn’t exactly very accurate as the markets don’t always go down in the May-Oct period. [...]

Stock markets had another strong month in April as the S&P 500 closed at a new historic high of 2945.83 at the end of the month, notching up a 4.05% (in USD) gain for the month. Local [...]

What do stocks do after one of the worst Decembers on record (in terms of market performance)? Start 2019 with one of the best first quarters in history! (For global equities. STI is another [...]

The S&P 500 closed February with its longest losing streak in 2019 of 3 days. It might sound a little gloomy, but this has been the best start for the index since 1991. The chart below shows [...]

US markets had their best January in 4 decades with the S&P 500 up 7.9% for the month, shrugging off the dismal end to 2018. The broader MSCI All Country World Index rose 7.9% while the MSCI [...]