Is it the year of the equal-weighted S&P 500 Index?

The Financial Times is wondering whether this year will be the year of the equal-weighted S&P 500 Index while another Kiwi fund manager is recommending funds that track this index as an alternative to following the benchmark capital-weighted US index.

Fisher Funds chief investment officer Ashley Gardyne says the European, Japanese and emerging markets all out-performed the US S&P 500 Index in 2025, even though the latter still managed 17% growth.

“A lot of that was driven by AI owners. Without them, it would’ve been quite a bit weaker,” Gardyne says.

The problem with the headline US index is that about 40% is tech firms with ...MORE»

NZX's Smart and Wealth Tecnologies contributed all profit growth in 2025 Friday, February 27th, 6:55AM NZX’s Smart’s growth in funds under management (FUM) accelerated in the second-half of 2025 to deliver annual growth of 17.6%. MORE»

NZX50 climbs 1.1% in earnings season flurry Thursday, February 26th, 5:43PM Retirement village operators paced gains as BNZ trimmed some of its longer-dated mortgage rates. MORE»

Booster loses discovery bid to look at rival transactions

Booster Investment Management has lost its application to get hold of documents held by the Financial Markets Authority on how other fund managers operate their private market investments.

In the High Court in Auckland, Justice Michael Arthur turned down the fund manager’s application, saying the evidence of industry practices might be relevant but probably wouldn’t be helpful to the expert witnesses in the FMA’s case against Booster accusing it of breaching related party transaction rules.

The judge ordered discovery for the FMA to provide documents it had created ...MORE»

Govt could cut NZ Super fiscal impact to 5% of GDP by 2065: consultants Wednesday, February 25th, 6:16AM  1 comment A new paper on New Zealand Superannuation says that the government could reduce the fiscal impact to 5% of GDP by 2065 by both raising the age of eligibility and by linking payments to the consumers price index (CPI). MORE»

Call for money for kids as part of KiwiSaver 2.0 Tuesday, February 24th, 9:12AM Redirecting government KiwiSaver contributions to children and young people could be a way to set them up for life, at little additional cost, KiwiSaver providers say. MORE»

News Bites

Shaw and Partners buys Wellington advice firm

Shaw and Partners, previously JMI Wealth, has expanded its reach buying a Wellington-based financial planning business. MORE»

GoodReturns TV

Fisher Funds moves to woo advisers back

After years of neglecting the adviser market, the investment manager is going on the charm offensive.   MORE»

Market, meet your new Fed Chair

In its latest Outlook Harbour Asset Management says the Reserve Bank of Australia is something to watch and global equity markets remain volatile even though there is a constructive backdrop. MORE»

Sponsored by:

nib back in profit and recovering

Health insurer nib says its New Zealand subsidiary is back in profit and its recovery continues at pace. MORE»

TMM Online

Lending slashed in January as borrowers rushed for new deals in December

Mortgage lending slumped by a huge 57.1% to $6 billion in January after rising to a record $14.1 billion in December off the back of the major banks’ short-lived 1.5% cashback incentives, the latest Reserve Bank data shows. MORE»

Sponsored by:

FundRock appoints new MD

Non-Executive Director of FundRock steps into managing director role. MORE»

Sponsored by:

Debtfix takes hardship off providers’ hands

Debt solution charity Debtfix is working with a growing number of KiwiSaver providers, to help them handle their financial hardship withdrawal workload. MORE»