If you’re building a retirement portfolio, you’ll no doubt be wanting to fill it with quality ASX shares that pay dividends and have positive long term outlooks.

Well, two ASX shares that tick these boxes are listed below. Here’s why analysts rate them as buys:

Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW)

The first ASX share for investors to consider for a retirement portfolio is the Charter Hall Long Wale REIT.

This is a property company that invests in high quality real estate assets that have long weighted average lease expiries (WALEs). These properties are leased mainly to corporate and government tenants and had a WALE of 11.8 years and a 99.9% occupancy rate when it reported its half year results this month.

That result went down well with analysts at Citi. In response, the broker has retained its buy rating with a $5.00 price target. It commented:

We re-iterate our Buy rating on CLW, with rising inflation providing a tailwind to revenue, a 6.1% FY23 dividend yield, and a- 25% discount to NTA (book value), despite c. 50% of income linked to inflation (meaning some protection to book values).

Citi expects this to underpin dividends per share of 28 cents in FY 2023 and 29 cents in FY 2024. Based on the current Charter Hall Long Wale REIT unit price of $4.59, this will mean yields of 6.1% and 6.3%, respectively.

Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)

Another ASX share for investors to consider for a retirement portfolio is Transurban.

It is a leading toll road operator with a portfolio of important roads in Australia and North America, as well as a significant project pipeline. The latter could be very supportive its growth in the future.

It also recently released its first half results and revealed that its roads are booming again after a difficult time during the pandemic. The company commented:

Record traffic volumes with Average Daily Traffic (ADT) exceeding 2.5 million trips for the first time in November 2022. Traffic volumes were supported by record traffic in Sydney and Brisbane, freight traffic and weekend travel

Macquarie was pleased with what it saw and retained its outperform rating with an improved price target of $14.51.

In addition, the broker is now forecasting dividends per share of 57 cents in FY 2023 and then 61 cents in FY 2024. Based on the current Transurban share price of $13.93, this will mean yields of 4.1% and 4.4%, respectively.

The post 2 excellent ASX shares to buy for a retirement portfolio: experts appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• Analysts say these growing ASX 200 dividend shares are top buys for income investors
• Guess which ASX 200 giant is aiming to grow its dividends by 39% in FY23
• 2 ASX 200 REITs on the rise following earnings updates
• Expect big yields from these ASX 200 dividend shares in 2023: analysts

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) followed Tuesday’s pop with an 1.06% drop on Wednesday, falling to close at 7,352.2 points.

It came amid a deluge of earnings from some of the market’s biggest names including Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH), and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG).

Weighing on the market today was the massive S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ). It tumbled 3.4% as the big four banks weighed heavily, led by the CBA share price’s 5.7% fall.

The S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples Index (ASX: XSJ) also had a rough session, dropping 1.4%.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index (ASX: XDJ) was among the top-performing sectors today, rising 0.5% with earnings from Wesfarmers and GUD Holdings Limited (ASX: GUD).

And I can tell you today’s top-performing ASX 200 stock is at home on the consumer discretionary section. Let’s take a look at what drove it sky-high on Wednesday.

Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown

Today’s biggest gains came from casino operator Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR). Its share price rocketed 14.4% in a partial recovery from recent losses.

The stock dived 20.8% on Monday on the back of a disappointing earnings update. It followed that up with a 13.5% tumble yesterday.

These shares made today’s biggest gains:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR)	$1.47	14.4%
GUD Holdings Limited (ASX: GUD)	$8.94	8.1%
Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH)	$225.28	7.75%
Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG)	$9.45	7.14%
New Hope Corporation Ltd (ASX: NHC)	$5.73	5.91%
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)	$8.19	3.54%
Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN)	$0.79	3.27%
Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF)	$8.58	3.13%
Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX: RWC)	$3.49	2.95%
Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS)	$2.82	2.92%

Our top 10 shares countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to let you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the weekday market closes to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Star Entertainment share price rebounds 8% on Wednesday
• 3 ASX 200 shares on the move amid strong earnings updates
• The Magellan share price is surging 7%. Is it time to buy back in?
• Why Cochlear, GUD, Netwealth, and Wesfarmers shares are charging higher

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Cochlear, Collins Foods, and Reliance Worldwide. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cochlear, Collins Foods, and Reliance Worldwide. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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After a breathtaking run over January, the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ) has been taking a bit of a breather of late. BetaShares Nasdaq 100 units rose from $24.60 in late December to $28.32 by 8 February – a gain of more than 13.5% in just over a month.

But since 8 February, investors have cooled off a little on this ASX exchange-traded fund (ETF). As it stands today, the BetaShares Nasdaq ETF is currently at $27.95 per unit, down more than 1.3% from its early February high:

So does this fall in value make the Nasdaq 100 ETF a no-brainer buy for ASX investors today?

Tech, tech and more tech

Well, let’s backtrack a little. The BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF is an index fund. But it doesn’t hold or track ASX shares. Instead, it holds 100 of the largest US shares listed on the American NASDAQ stock exchange. The NASDAQ is known for being the exchange that most tech companies choose to list on.

As such, its largest holdings are the US tech giants we all know and may, or may not, love. These include Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX). Not to mention the likes of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), and Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX).

So the performance of the BetaShares Nasdaq ETF largely rides or dies on the performance of these companies.

Some of these names have indeed had a rough February thus far. There was the interesting debacle that was Alphabet’s artificial intelligence display last week, which has seen the company lose around 12% of its value over the past week for one.

But Amazon has also seen its share price cool off this month. It’s probably these two US tech giants that are responsible for the pullback we have seen in the unit price of the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF.

So this brings us to the question of whether this ETF is in the buy zone today.

Why the BetaShares Nasdaq ETF’s pain is our gain

Well, I think it is. An investment in the NASDAQ is an investment in American tech. And American tech has led the way for global innovation over the past two to three decades. I think companies like Apple, Tesla, Netflix, Alphabet, and Amazon will be larger, healthier, more dominant and more profitable in ten years’ time than they are today.

I can’t see a scenario where a competitor comes in and takes Apple’s place at the top of the world’s consumer electronics market.

Or dents the incredible market share that Alphabet’s Google has in search.

Or Amazon’s incredibly dominant e-commerce platform (not to mention its cloud-based AWS division).

An investment in the BetaShares Nasdaq ETF would have been incredibly lucrative ever since this ETF was first listed. Since its inception in 2015, investors have enjoyed an average annual return of 15.65% per annum.

In my view, all of this adds up to a buying opportunity for the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF today.

The post Does the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF share price fall make it a no-brainer buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• These top ETFs could be great options for beginner ASX investors
• Top ASX ETFs to buy in February 2023
• 2 fantastic ETFs for ASX investors to buy and hold
• The smartest ASX shares to buy with $20 right now
• How I’d invest $300 a month in ASX shares to target an extra income of $20,000 per year

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Starbucks, and Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF, Microsoft, Netflix, Starbucks, and Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, short April 2023 $100 calls on Starbucks, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) share market is facing an uncertain time for the rest of 2023.

While the market fell in 2022, it essentially recovered all of that lost ground in January 2023 after gaining 6%.

But, since early February, ASX 200 shares have been drifting lower.

Let’s look at some of the opposing thoughts on the situation.

Optimistic case for ASX 200 shares

I think that when the market becomes scared, the sell-off usually happens when uncertainty is at its highest. By uncertainty, I don’t mean how bad things are, I mean when it’s not clear how bad things will become.

For example, the worst of the COVID-19 crash was in March 2020, even though deaths and lockdowns persisted for a long time after that.

Last year, the ASX 200 hit lows in June 2022 and at the end of September 2022. But, even though interest rates are much higher than in June and September, the share market has recovered. Investors have already gotten used to the high inflation story and are now focusing on the recovery.

Over time, many ASX 200 shares have shown they can grow profit to new records, which makes me believe plenty of them can grow profit into the future. This thought can help investors remain positive.

Investing is a long-term endeavour, so the short term isn’t that important. But businesses like Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) are still reporting sales growth in January 2023. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) result also showed another increase in net profit after tax (NPAT) thanks to stronger lending profits.

With the ASX 200 being weighted to banks like CBA and resource businesses like BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), the index could be protected in 2023 by the banks’ higher lending profits and strong resource prices (thanks to Chinese demand).

Bearish case

On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that the ASX 200 will continue to perform.

On the resource side of things, China is reportedly not seeing a major upswing with its economy (yet), despite ending lockdowns. CNBC reported that there has been a “sharp drop in loans to households” year over year. The chief China economist of financial group Nomura, Ting Lu, said: “The mixed data send a clear message that markets should not be too bullish about growth this year.”

With how important mortgage demand is for the construction sector in China, which uses a lot of steel/iron, it could imply that the iron ore price has risen too far.

Another negative factor could be that interest rates could continue to rise, further than some ASX 200 share investors are expecting.

The Australian Financial Review reported on Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Philip Lowe’s comments to Senate estimates that people on fixed-rate loans who didn’t use low rates to build up savings are in for “a lot more difficulty”.

In the latest RBA monthly interest rate increase, Dr Lowe said that Australian CPI inflation for the three months to December 2022, in underlying terms, was 6.9%, which was higher than expected. The RBA board expects that “further increases in interest rates will be needed over the months ahead”.

In the US, inflation rose in January by 0.5% after a 0.1% increase in December, according to reporting by CNBC. This was also more than expected. The Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said:

We must remain prepared to continue rate increases for a longer period than previously anticipated, if such a path is necessary to respond to changes in the economic outlook or to offset any undesired easing in conditions.

Higher interest rates could be bad news for a number of sectors like retailers, property-linked businesses, and so on.

ASX bank shares could also suffer if a lot more households start getting into arrears.

Foolish takeaway

I don’t think that the overall ASX 200 share market is going to crash, the worst of the decline may have been seen last year.

However, if some businesses report weaker-than-expected numbers, then this could lead to a plunge in share prices, such as we’ve seen with Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) and JB Hi-Fi Limited. But I think that the declines are opening up long-term opportunities.

The post Will ASX 200 shares crash in 2023? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Should I buy Endeavour shares following the ASX 200 company’s stellar results?
• ASX 200 in freefall as CBA’s prediction of a soft landing might have just been torpedoed by huge interest rate call
• Why CBA, Corporate Travel Management, Treasury Wine, and Westpac shares are dropping
• 4 ASX 200 stocks smashing new 52-week highs on Wednesday

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Temple & Webster Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Jb Hi-Fi and Temple & Webster Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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