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The latest market insights from our strategists covering equity
and fixed income markets, and a global macro overview.

Max Pacella

Investment Analyst

Max started at Mason Stevens in 2020, working with investment managers to provide insights & investment opportunities for client portfolios. In his role as Investment Analyst, Max is involved with counterparty relationships between Mason Stevens and investment managers, multi-asset mandates and portfolio review/construction. Max is completing an undergraduate study of Economics, Commercial Law, Financial Economics at the University of Sydney. He has a license for providing General Advice in Securities and Managed Investments, as well as a license for providing Personal Advice in Foreign Exchange (RG146).

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Weekend Reading | “Boom from Bust”

09 Apr 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekend reading. A short week after the Easter Long Weekend, though no less filled with interesting stories. We’ve seen news coming out of global investment banks regarding Archegos, speculation and declarations about Bitcoin, Chinese bank loan...

Drivers of Growth

08 Apr 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 4 mins READ MORE

After being a minority player in the auto industry for over 100 years, electric vehicles look set to re-enter the global stage as a leading alternative to combustion engines. As governments around the world look to cease the sale of...

The Cycle of Life

06 Apr 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

As we close out the first quarter for CY2021 and a flurry of economic updates enter our inboxes, now seems like an appropriate time to take a closer look at the business cycle and its relationship to markets and the...

Bigger Isn’t Better

01 Apr 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

When considering the domestic equity exposure in a portfolio, one important consideration is what market capitalisation you are investing into. Much like different nations of varying economic size, different sizes of companies within the same economy offer different investment characteristics....

Weekend Reading | “Running of the Bulls”

26 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekend reading,Some distinctly bullish news out this week, primarily focussed on continued U.S stimulus and cryptocurrency news sparking further rallies in everyone’s favourite form of monopoly money. Despite this, there are some points to cover off,...

Spotlight on Property

25 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 4 mins READ MORE

Australian investors are all-too-familiar with property; owning anything from a piece of land to a newsagency is part of the great Australian dream. But when it comes to performance over the last year, and what economic sentiment you are expressing...

Spotlight on Infrastructure

23 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

Infrastructure as an asset class seems to offer one solution to the ‘inflation hedge’ many investors are seeking in this current environment. Despite this, many investors have little to no allocation in the sector due to lumping it in with...

Weekend Reading | “Schoolyard Antics”

19 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekend reading, This week saw world-moving economic announcements and global dissonance around vaccines, which were treated in equal weighting by the news cycle to two world leaders slinging playground insults and Elon Musk delivering the best...

Exploring Current Market Psychology

18 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

Like a high school essay, let’s outline a thesis statement at the very beginning of this note: Anybody with the conviction, the capital and the aptitude should be able to access and participate in financial markets. Furthermore, investors should always...

Modern Space Race

16 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

Space, the final frontier. Although I am more of a Star Trek -Next Generation man, the words of Captain James T. Kirk have captivated human imagination since the 1960s, as an increasingly technological world looked to the stars for new...

The 14th Five Year Plan

15 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

In July this year, the Communist Party of China (CCP) will commemorate its 100th anniversary – and considering the global superpower is poised as one of world’s most robust economies after the pandemic, we can expect to see a party...

Weekend Reading | “What Goes Up”

12 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekend reading.There are no middling stories anymore – either everything is going up, or else everything must come down. This week was a litany of rallies, collapses, new records and slumping potential. Like a frustrated parent...

Stock/Bond Correlation

12 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

For any multi-asset portfolio, the first steps for most investors will be their asset allocation decisions.What are my inflation expectations? How long is my investment objective? How much capital will be exposed to equities? What room does that leave for...

Weekend Reading | “A Series of Blow-Ups”

05 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekend reading.A quieter week this week, littered with a lot of interesting stories that unfortunately mean we’ll need to harp on about Elon Musk and crypto again – don’t worry, I promise to make enough snarky...

Investing in Emerging Markets

04 Mar 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

Emerging Markets (EM) have been a compelling investment case for the last few decades. This has been for a number of reasons; Modern portfolio theorists like EM because it represents a risk diversification tool, both geographic and sector, across equities...

Weekend Reading | “The Roaring Tens”

26 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 7 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to the Weekend Reading It’s been a turbulent week, as I write this our market is redder than an English backpacker after a day in the sun and news of rising 10Y bond yields have created some particularly...

Banks and the Search for Yield

26 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

Now that the major bank results are sitting comfortably in our hindsight, and following on from our banks outlook earlier this month, today we’ll consider some further views from the street on bank stocks; both as a rotational play and...

A Guide to Performance Metrics

23 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

When reviewing a portfolio or managed product, advisers and investors are inundated with a variety of performance metrics, some of which may be outside their field of expertise and therefore are ignored in favor of the historical performance. This is...

Weekend Reading | “The Comeback”

19 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 9 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekend reading. This week has been a story of ‘coming back’, for better or for worse. As LL Cool J said in 1990, “don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years, rocking my peers...

Spicks and SPACs

18 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

The equity market is the subject of a lot of polarization at the moment. In the minds of many vocal commentators, everything is either the next “big bull run”, or another sign of a bubble. Valuations are either stretched beyond...

Lunar New Year and Markets

16 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 4 mins READ MORE

By the time you read this, the Hong Kong stock exchange will have re-opened after Lunar New Year, with Shanghai bourse remaining closed until 17 February. Global stock markets are subject to seasonal influences throughout the year, as the usual...

Weekend Reading | “Here We Go Again”

12 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekend reading.Happy Lunar New Year to you all, may the Year of the Ox bring fortune, health and a continuing bull market if you’re long equities (an ox is a bit like a bull, right?)We first...

Aussie Banks Outlook 2021

11 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 4 mins READ MORE

Yesterday, Commonwealth Bank (CBA:ASX) was the first of our major banks to report 1H21 results, firing the starting gun on what will be several weeks of news coming out of the largest ASX sector. In light of this we thought...

“Where’s the Inflation?”

09 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

Investors do not always need to be economists. In fact, one of my favourite investors – Peter Lynch of Fidelity – is fond of saying, “If you spend 13 minutes on economics a year, you’ve wasted 10 minutes”. But despite...

Weekend Reading | “The Big Squeeze”

05 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 7 mins READ MORE

Healthcare Sector Overview and Outlook

04 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

It is undeniable that COVID-19’s impact upon our society and economy will be felt for decades to come. We are living amongst at an inflexion point in history, in which certain priorities have been brought into focus as the pandemic...

Exposure to Cryptocurrency Through Stocks

03 Feb 2021 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 4 mins READ MORE

Much like any other designated ‘financial services guy’ in a circle of friends, if I had a dollar for every time I have been asked about buying “cryptos”, I could probably afford one whole Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency has become the investors’...

Music Streaming Services

15 Dec 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

As we all unwind after this tumultuous year, many of us will turn to music to relax and celebrate. But do we ever stop and consider the growth and change in how we consume that media? Or even, how can...

CEOs of Personality

11 Dec 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“Be a symbol of perfection,Be an object, be a cultTake their praise, take the collectionAs the multitudes exalt"Elton John, “It’s Tough To Be A God” Despite what we may read in the news of late, the world has become a...

A Recipe for an IPO

04 Dec 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“Could we have kippers for breakfast,Mummy dear, mummy dear,They got to have ‘em in Texas,‘Cause everyone’s a millionaire”Supertramp, “Breakfast in America” Not chasing hot picks and waiting to ‘buy the dip’ is generally the sage advice that an experienced stock-picker...

Buy Now, Pay Later

27 Nov 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

“I’m gonna keep on the runI’m gonna have me some funIf it costs me my very last dimeIf I wind up broke, oh wellI’ll always remember that I had a swingin’ time”Elvis Presley, “Viva Las Vegas” Now more than ever,...

Online Advertising

20 Nov 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

After falling victim to COVID-19 in Q2, spending on online advertising has posted a strong recovery moving towards 2021. Today we follow this recovery and consider if we can use where this advertising spending is going, between regions and sectors,...

Cybersecurity and Investing

13 Nov 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 4 mins READ MORE

“Oh Superman where are you now? When everything's gone wrong somehow, The men of steel, the men of power Are losing control by the hour.” Genesis, “Land of Confusion” “So, what happens to Company X if China and the U.S....

Generational Wealth Transfer

06 Nov 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“And as he hung up the phone it occurred to me He’d grown up just like me, My boy was just like me” Harry Chapin, “Cat’s in the Cradle” One of the largest transferrals of wealth in history will occur...

The Conscious Investor

30 Oct 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“Don’t care if my liver is hanging by a thread, Don’t care if my doctor says I ought to be dead, When my ugly big car won’t climb this hill I’ll write a suicide note on a hundred-dollar bill.” Dire...

Ant Group – The Biggest IPO in History

29 Oct 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 7 mins READ MORE

“Today’s financial system is the legacy of the Industrial Age – We must set up a new one for the next generation and young people. We must reform the current system.” Jack Ma, Co-Founder of Alibaba on Ant Group In...

Global Wealth Movement

23 Oct 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“I’m on my way, I’m making it I’ve got to make it show, So much larger than life, I’m going to watch it growing” - Peter Gabriel, ‘Big Time’ To quote All the President’s Men (1976), “follow the money." Investors,...

Value in Antitrust

20 Oct 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“Well he cast his eyes upon her And the trouble soon began And Leroy Brown learned a lesson 'Bout messin' with the wife of a jealous man.” - Jim Croce, “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” We live in the age of...

Digital Payments: Part 2

16 Oct 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

“Money, so they say, Is the root of all evil today But if you ask for a raise it’s no surprise that they’re Giving none away.” Pink Floyd, “Money” The world is steadily gaining more wealth - with more money...

Digital Payments: Part 1

12 Oct 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“Get on a TWA to the promised land. Every woman, child and man Gets a Cadillac and a great big diamond ring. Don't you know you're riding with the king?” Eric Clapton, B.B. King (2000) The adage that ‘cash is...

Get Long Automation

02 Oct 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

Computer Age

29 Sep 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 6 mins READ MORE

“But I'm all right Standing out here In the hot sun When I see the light I feel like More than just a number” Neil Young, Computer Age (1982) Apple can see your search history, Europe is protecting you, and...

Gone Fishing

25 Sep 2020 | By Max Pacella

READ TIME 5 mins READ MORE

“A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that.” ― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick Hunting for whales I’ve been asked before to keep an eye on video game companies, often an overlooked part of the market,...

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