The hornet is no honey bee.
Their ability to sting multiple times without dying and to inject venom directly into their victims makes them a formidable predator.
Combined with territorial and aggressive behaviour and you can see the problems they cause, especially for local insect populations in places where they are an invasive species, including Europe.
There, the Vespa Velutina have a direct impact on honey bee colonies by killing honey bees and honey bee offspring to feed their own larvae. As such, they are a real peril for the survival of the European bee and subsequently all plants and trees that rely on them for pollination.
Apart from an ecological disaster, this also comes with an economic price, as certain commercial crops, such as canola, sunflower and broad bean, have a significantly higher quality and quantity of crop produced when honey bee pollination takes place.
Today’s environment for equity investors could also be described as perilous.
The combination of high inflation, high interest rates and high asset valuations result in an environment that many seem to think will end in recession.
Yet, the market environment is not the only challenge investors face. The increasing complexity of industries as they embrace artificial intelligence is causing an elevation in volatility, while geopolitical tension adds to the explosive mix.
In addition, devastating climate events seem to occur more frequently and are more intensive in nature, increasing the physical risk of assets.
But the flipside of this more volatile and lower returning environment is that savvy investors can exploit dislocation to eke out incremental higher returns, especially in growth assets such as equities.
The energy transition might also create new areas or even whole sectors of growth for companies, as we slowly transition to an electrified and hydrogen driven economy.
At the ninth [i3] Equities Forum, we will discuss how this myriad of influences affect equity investments, and seek answer to the following questions:
- Are we underestimating the impact of climate change on equity holdings?
- Is the energy transition largely a venture capital story or do we see opportunities for existing listed companies?
- How does the increasing size of Australian superannuation funds affect their ability to drive equity returns?
- Have emerging markets over-promised and underdelivered?
- Does artificial intelligence form a threat or opportunity for equity investors?
- And more
We hope to see you at the ninth [i3] Equities Forum on 20 and 21 February 2024 at the RACV Healesville.
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