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Festive season office hours

  • Friday 6 December – closed for staff Christmas party
  • noon Friday 20 December – closed until
  • 9am Monday 6 January 2025 – open for business as usual

12:30pm AEDT Thurs 5 Dec – FREE online Q&A with Cass – click here to join or enter Meeting ID 440 195 792 997 Passcode Cz6eH7Wk

8pm AEDT Mon 16 DecAinslie Bullion & Banter (register here)

12:30pm AEDT Thurs 16 Jan – FREE online Q&A with Cass – click here to join or enter Meeting ID 462 500 612 451 Passcode SmrGWX

*all times AEDT (Canberra time)

The Australian stock market has plummeted more than 3 per cent to open this week, continuing its Friday fall in what has been the market’s worst two-day performance since 2022. With share markets pushing all-time highs in recent times, is this the beginning of an imminent correction (further downturn)?  

The “bloodbath,” which saw $77bn of value wiped from the Australian market followed US employment news showing employers added 35 per cent fewer employees than forecasted as unemployment rose to 4.3 per cent. The US unemployment rate’s jump in July crossed a tripwire that historically has signaled a recession.

On home soil, financial stocks have been hit hard, with Westpac (down 3.76 per cent), ANZ (down 4.04 per cent), NAB (down 4 per cent) and CBA (down 3.88 per cent) all sharply lower.

With echoes of a recession, this begs the question: will gold continue its triumph past all-time highs to finish 2024?  

Due to its reputation for being a “safe-haven asset,” gold tends to perform well during a recession. For example, when the stock market collapsed in 2007, investment demand for gold spiked and continued to rise, and gold doubled in value between 2007 and 2011.

SMSFs are able to invest in more than just the stock market, including in assets like gold and property. Perhaps this is the reason more and more Australians are choosing to set up self-managed super funds (SMSFs)? Certainly those who have are sighing with relief this week.   

Read more about the recent stock market downturn and gold as a value protecting asset here: