For those who couldn’t make it in person to the MB fund rock-n-roll thunder tour events around the country, we recorded the Melbourne concert. The first video is me explaining the history of MB, it’s purpose and the evolution of the MB Fund. The second video is Leith explaining his history with MB. The third
CBA is turning desperate. Following Ian Narev comes Michael Blythe: Australia’s biggest domestic economic risk is a “skewed consumer cycle” and the government may need to step in with a policy on wages, Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief economist Michael Blythe says. Normal wage growth is around 3.5 per cent per annum, according to the
DXY launched last night then lost the lot. The chart remains bullish: AUD was weak against DM: But strong against EM: Gold was soft: Brent was firm on US hurricane outages and OPEC output cut extension talk (a certainty): Base metals were mixed: Big miners were crushed by Xi Jinping: EM stocks rebounded: High yield
It’s as obvious as the nose on your face that global markets are beginning to suspect that the Australian property bubble may burst. The reasons are equally clear: prices are stalling or falling; officials have labelled it a bubble; global interest rates are rising; other similar markets in NZ, the UK and Canada are rolling;
By Leith van Onselen Last month, CoreLogic released its Mapping the Market report for the June quarter, which showed the almost complete disappearance of affordable houses across Sydney: Sydney Houses: In June 2012, 21.3% of Sydney suburbs had a median house value of more than $1 million, by June 2017 55.7% of suburbs had a
By Leith van Onselen The bolshy Tim Gurner is sitting on a Brisbane bomb: More than 100 apartments in a high-profile inner-city Brisbane development are yet to settle amid warnings it is “crunch time” for developers in the Queensland capital. Some 20 per cent of the first tower of property developer Gurner’s 520-unit FV development
By Leith van Onselen I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the following report whinging about rapid unplanned population growth in Canberra’s Gungahlin region, to the city’s north. From The ABC: Gungahlin is one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions, but a leading planning expert says a “disastrous” lack of suitable infrastructure has left the burgeoning
Via the AFR: Federal Labor is open to a deal on energy policy, but has demanded more detail from the government on the new scheme and has indicated it may increase the emissions reduction target for the electricity sector should it win the next election. With the Turnbull government needing the support of both federal
Via Reuters: After getting Qatar and Australia to lower gas price, India today pitched for flexible terms for LNG purchase including provision of pricing review, flexible take or pay and abolition of destination restriction clause. Speaking at the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference here, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the global LNG market is undergoing a major
Iron ore price charts for October 18, 2017: Tianjin benchmark was unchanged at $61.70. Paper cracked overnight. Steel fell a little. Xi Jinping appears to have disappointed Dalian. Reuters has texture: Market participants are also watching the Communist Party congress with President Xi Jinping saying China’s campaign against corruption has achieved “overwhelming momentum” as the
Not news to MB readers but some nice texture from UBS: Buying intention & activity rose further on price optimism Both home buying activity and intensions gained momentum. Our latest survey showed that one in six respondents had purchased a home in the past 6 months, a notable increase from the same period a year
Global Macro / Markets / Investing: When Doing Good Ends Badly for CEOs – WSJ Crypto venture firm Blockchain Capital is raising $150 million for two funds – CNBC Bernanke Adds Nuance to Independence Orthodoxy: Eco Pulse – Bloomberg Crypto Daytrippers – Bloomberg George Soros Transfers Billions to Open Society Foundations – NY Times If
MB prodding appears to have tipped Rob Burgess over the edge on population: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party continues to stoke fears that Australia is becoming “Asian-ised” (whatever that means), and Australian Conservative leader Cory Bernardi complains of the growing threat of “‘influencers’ bankrolled by the Chinese Communist Party”. The antidote to those scare-mongering views is that China’s
The ASX200 melt-up continues today: The key to it is still driving as bond yields fall away: Dalian has held its gains today: Big Iron is resting: Big Gas too: Big Gold no longer cares that gold is falling! Big Sleazy is mostly up: Big Liar too: So long as yields keep pricing out rate
By Ross Elliott, cross-posted from The Pulse US based urbanist Richard Florida – once described as an “intellectual Rockstar” – shot to fame with his 2002 book The Creative Class. He was on a global speaking tour that took in many Australian cities, arguing that the secrets to economic development lay in attracting legions of
By Leith van Onselen This site has gone to great effort exposing the pitfalls of the ACT Light Rail Project. Late last year, secret NSW Government documents were released revealing that the Parramatta Light Rail Project – the centrepiece of the Government’s plans to cement Parramatta as Sydney’s second central business district, as well as
From the latest NAB Residential Property Survey comes some welcome news: The influence of foreign buyers in Australian property markets continued to lessen according to surveyed property professionals, suggesting that tighter conditions imposed on foreign buyers is still having an impact. In Q3, foreign buyers accounted for 10.2% of all new property purchases (10.4% in
Ebrahim Rahbari, Citi’s head of global macroeconomics: The day you finally have enough housing in Sydney is the day I wouldn’t want to be caught with a big mortgage. I think there is a real danger when certain developments have gone on for a long time, and in Australia in particular the combination of high
Via S&P: The number of delinquent housing loans underlying Australian prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) fell to 1.10% in August from 1.17% in July, according to a recent report by S&P Global Ratings. The decline, which is not unusual because arrears typically have fallen in August for the past 10 years, was partly influenced by
From BHP’s first QTR update: Iron ore – Total iron ore production for the September 2017 quarter decreased by three per cent to 56 Mt, or 64 Mt on a 100 per cent basis. Guidance for the 2018 financial year remains unchanged at between 239 and 243 Mt, or between 275 and 280 Mt on
Via Westpac: • The six month annualised growth rate in the WestpacMelbourne Institute Leading Index, which indicates the likely pace of economic activity relative to trend three to nine months into the future, slipped from –0.16% in August –0.21% in September. The growth rate remains negative pointing to below trend momentum and a sharp turnaround
Via Bloomie: Canada’s banking regulator released final rules that will make it tougher for borrowers to take on uninsured mortgages, adding to a growing list of measures to rein in the nation’s housing markets. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions announced measures targeting borrowers in the uninsured segment of the mortgage market that has been responsible for
Work for Merrill Lynch. Become PM. Do nothing about house prices. Ramp immigration. Sell your mansion to a Chinese investor. Then join the bank: ANZ has appointed former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key as chairman of ANZ New Zealand. He will succeed John Judge as chairman as he retires from the board of directors in January,
Quite rightly: “What’s very clear is that the government is scrambling. We have policy on the run. We have an energy policy being put together with strings and bandaids,” shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said Tuesday morning. “What is very clear and has been publicly confirmed by the Energy Security Board, is that this policy that
By Leith van Onselen When the National Broadband Network (NBN) arrived in my area late last year residents were greeted with a barrage of junk mail advertisements from all manner of internet service providers offering competitively priced internet at fast speeds. At the time, I was under contract with Telstra, so I did not consider
