Images of protesters lobbing Molotov cocktails and baton-wielding soldiers in the streets don't paint Hong Kong as a place to invest your money, but it won't always be like this.

The protest-scarred streets of Hong Kong featured in our coverage this week, in Lex Hall's discussion of a recent report, A Better Tomorrow, from Morningstar analyst Lorraine Tan.

Clashes between authorities and demonstrators have turned increasingly ugly in recent weeks, now drawing in Chinese troops and emergency powers to ban the wearing of face-masks.

But looking through the current turmoil toward an eventual end, Tan's study highlights 10 of the companies tipped for a rapid recovery when protests end – including names in real estate (Swire Properties), financial services (BOC Hong Kong) and industrials (Swire Pacific).

Closer to home, we looked at the prospects for Australia's telecommunications companies as the National Broadband Network cuts a swathe through the balance sheets of Telstra and its smaller competitors, including TPG, Vocus and a couple of dual-listed New Zealand companies.

Tipped to be Australia's biggest IPO of 2019, the listing of Latitude Financial Group is discussed in new detail during this video, as Morningstar equity analyst Nathan Zaia explains to Lex why he isn't recommending investors jump on the bandwagon.

And with technology companies never far from the minds of investors, both Emma Rapaport and Nicki Bourlioufas took different tacks in their discussion of some of Australia's WAAAX stocks, our equivalent of America’s FAANGs.

Emma took a deep dive into cloud-accounting software pioneer Xero. It is contending with increasingly fierce competition as the march it stole a decade ago is eaten away by the likes of MYOB and US start-up Intuit.

Nicki spoke to fund managers for some tips on how they pick winners, including a look at Afterpay, which Morningstar recently added to its stable of companies under coverage.

For those wanting a more educational or self-reflective take on investing, Morningstar's head of behavioural finance Sarah Newcomb describes a phenomenon called the "Gambler's Fallacy". In short, the stories investors tell themselves – such as the market being apparently overdue for a downturn. Another such fallacy is that passive investing is always safe. Michael Schramm tackles this in an enlightening explainer.

Speaking of learning about investing, the Morningstar Individual Investor Conference is now almost sold out. Only around 50 tickets remain. It’s one of the best opportunities you'll find to hear from leading industry figures and Morningstar experts. Don't miss your chance to hear from AMP CEO Francesco De Ferrari; learn about what the future holds for SMSFs; the whistleblowers that triggered the banking royal commission, and much more. I look forward to seeing you there.

Warm regards,
Glenn Freeman