By Leith van Onselen One of the strangest changes that I have noticed in Melbourne over the past five years has been the proliferation of massage shopfronts. It seems that any given shopping strip across suburban Melbourne now has at least one (but usually more) massage shops, often with a flashing neon sign showing the
From The Australian: The Business Council of Australia yesterday attacked the Victorian government for lacking “political courage’’ to develop its gas reserves and implicitly criticised the NSW government, which has imposed restrictions through much of the state. …Ahead of next month’s budget, the government last night shelved potentially-explosive recommendations from a review of the Petroleum
It’s the share price crash that keeps on giving, yesterday hitting a new closing low of 59 cents, now down 72% from float: The new trigger appears to have been this story: Speculation is mounting that more of McGrath Estate Agent’s franchisees are heading for the door as the share price of the listed real
Some weird old bullhawks return today: The dollar’s potential loss of its status as a high-yielding currency could cause the Aussie to plunge to US62¢, forcing the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates despite still-weak domestic growth, according to one of Asia’s most prominent currency strategists. The weak consumer economy makes it difficult for the RBA to raise
By Leith van Onselen In the week ended 27 April 2017, the CoreLogic 5-city daily dwelling price index, which covers the five major capital city markets, fell by 0.29%: Values fell in three major capitals, rose in one, and was flat in one: So far in April, home prices have risen by 0.15%, with growth
Iron ore price charts for April 27, 2017: Spot down but futures up overnight. Steel has not updated. BHP and RIO were hammered -5% and -3% in London as Vale results missed. No change to outlook. We’re treading water before the inevitable.
Via Investing in Chinese Stocks. One Beijing real estate broker has seen transactions fall 70 percent in the wake of the March 17 buying restrictions. iFeng: 部分一线城市二手房卖方主动降价 成交量大减 Here is the Chaoyang District, Beijing real estate registration business center. In Beijing, every one of the four existing home sales is completed here. According to the
Global Macro / Markets / Investing: We’re In An Artificial Intelligence Hype Cycle – Buzz Feed Why are we reluctant to trust robots? – The Guardian Moody’s: Low interest rates pose risks to global insurance industry’s profitability – Moody’s 0.2% Of Nasdaq Companies Accounted For 45% Of Its Recent Gains – Zero Hedge Growth Can Solve the Debt Dilemma –
by Chris Becker Risk off? Not quite but Asian markets are not reacting well to the mixed lead from Wall Street overnight, exacerbated by the BOJ’s decision to cut its inflation target and a drop in commodity prices. In China, the Shanghai Composite is just positive going into the close, currently up only 0.3% to 3145
Cross-posted from The Conversation: Almost 20 years after the 30% subsidy for private health insurance was introduced, premiums continue to rise every year. This comes at a cost to the federal budget – which was forecast at A$6.5 billion in the 2016 federal budget from the subsidy alone. Meanwhile, consumers continue to view private health
By Leith van Onselen The ABS’ latest CPI data showed that housing rents nationally have registered zero growth in inflation-adjusted terms over the past five years (see my earlier post): Despite this, the number of affordable rental properties is at all-time lows according to a Anglicare’s latest Rental Affordability Snapshot. From The ABC: Each year
By Leith van Onselen The immigration-driven population boom in Sydney – which has added 830,000 people (20%) to Sydney’s population over the past 12 years and is projected to increase Sydney’s population by 87,000 people a year (1.74 million in total) over the next 20 years – is the gift that keeps on giving. Back
Iron ore and coking coal are flat through the day: Big Iron is down a bit: Big Gas is burning with STO -7% and ORG -4%: A little relief today for big gas users: Big Gold is flying except NCM which reported being thumped by, you guessed it, Big Gas: Big Debt is rising…because it’s
APPEA pooing its pants as Australia joins every other gas exporter on earth in having a domestic reservation policy: Gas export controls announced today by the Commonwealth are a short-term measure that risk exacerbating tight market conditions unless accompanied by genuine reforms. “Restricting exports is almost unprecedented for Australia,” said APPEA Chief Executive Malcolm Roberts. “At
Poor young Australia. Via Essential, Do-nothing Malcolm’s visa changes have not moved the needle: Even though support is good: But note the youth results. Strongest in favour of immigration and protecting visa rorts, even as they play a major role is their own disenfranchisement. Exemplary global citizens suffering for their values.
By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released export and import prices for the March quarter, which portends another much-needed increase in Australia’s terms-of-trade when the national accounts are released in early June. According to the ABS, export prices surged by 9.4% over the March quarter and were up by 29.1%
Care of Elliott Clarke at Westpac: Ever since the GFC (if not many years before), financial conditions and taxation in the US has favoured wealthy households. On financial conditions: the ownership of property is heavily skewed towards the wealthy; the same can be said of stock holdings, both those held directly (which depend on existing
By Leith van Onselen NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has come out against the proposal to build a high speed train line between Sydney and Melbourne, citing doubts about the cost and benefits of a very fast train service. From The Australian: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is known to be sceptical despite claims by one interested
From STO this morning: Surely management expected something of this nature and has a plan? Down 6% today and back at 198o prices… Why was anyone buying this thing beforehand?
Via The Australian: Malcolm Turnbull has promised manufacturers the price they pay for gas will halve as he intervenes in the market and imposes tough export controls to ensure Australian businesses, families, employers and industry receive guaranteed and affordable supplies. The Prime Minister said 65,000 jobs reliant on gas were at risk until action was
By Leith van Onselen ABC’s 7.30 Report last night ran a depressing segment on the Western Australian economic/property crash. The segment features a project engineer named Brad Wright, who has seen his income slashed and has lost a tonne of money in investment properties: BRAD WRIGHT, PROJECT ENGINEER: People have had their income slashed to
Well done gas cartel: Fears about rising energy prices have driven consumers and businesses to install solar panels at the fastest rate in at least a decade, lifting total national capacity to the equivalent of powering a city the size of Melbourne. New figures from the Australian Photovoltaic Institute show the country has passed 6 gigawatts of solar
This morning I asked S&P’s Australian analyst, Craig Michaels, the following: Does today’s mooted changes in Budget accounting, which divides supposed good and bad debt, alter the way S&P views the Budget? Specifically: will it alter the calculation of general government debt to GDP? will it alter S&P’s view of the 30% general government debt
Canada’s largest mortgage non-bank mortgage lender appears to be going under, via Bloomberg: Home Capital Group Inc.’s shares plunged more than 60 percent after the mortgage lender disclosed a costly new loan to tide it over as its deposits dwindle, intensifying a spiral of bad news for the company. The C$2 billion ($1.5 billion) loan is
By Leith van Onselen Sustainable Australia president, William Bourke, penned a thought-provoking letter in The AFR arguing that Australia’s permanent skilled migration program is actually diluting Australia’s skills base: Australia’s record permanent immigration program of around 200,000 that’s diluting our skills base. Although the so-called “skilled” category is two-thirds of the annual program, the government
