Global Macro / Markets / Investing: Wework loses $1.3 billion against topline of $934M ahead of aborted IPO – Bloomberg Global Economy ‘Breakdown’ Seen Putting More Workers at Risk of Slavery – VOA News The ‘Doomsday’ Economists Were Wrong – BeInCrypto Oil rises after OPEC’s Barkindo says U.S. shale growth may slow in 2020 –
Outside China, stocks are quite boisterous here in Asia leading to good buy signals for the northern hemisphere as we close the trading week out. The USD is coming back against Yen, while risk proxies Kiwi and Aussie bounced a little higher today but are lacking any signs of real momentum. Chinese stocks are still
The REINZ has released its house price data for October, which revealed a 1.1% increase in values over the month, with values nationally also increasing by 7.6% year-on-year to a new record high: The breakdown by region is shown below: Outside of Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 1.3% in October, with prices up
This is the right idea but for the wrong folks, at The Australian: One of the most important statistics calculated by Foreseechange is its “willingness to spend” data. This shows that retirees are the most willing to spend, followed by people in full time work without mortgage repayments. Retirees been savaged by lower interest rates
Via the excellent Garth Aird at CBA: Overview Australian capital city dwelling prices, led by Sydney and Melbourne, have risen sharply since mid-2019. RBA rate cuts, coupled with extra borrowing capacity from the APRA induced changes to loan serviceabilityassessment anda surprise election outcome that removed some taxation risksaround housing causedhome buyer interest return in force.
RBA assistant governor, Michele Bullock, has played down concerns of Australia’s record household debt, claiming that the top 40% of income distribution account for three quarters of the debt load: “Three quarters of debt is owned by households that sit in the top 40 per cent of income distribution,” she told a conference in Melbourne.
And why wouldn’t it? It was never more than a PR stunt, via The Australian: Federation reform could be the secret to improving productivity in Australia and avoiding blurred responsibility in fields such as health, the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has suggested. In a speech to be delivered at the University of Adelaide on Thursday, Frydenberg reveals
Despite undergoing a record $93 billion re build, and selling-off nearly every public asset possible, NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet admits the state faces a massive infrastructure shortfall of $30 billion, as unrelenting immigration overruns Sydney: NSW faces a massive infrastructure funding shortfall of about $30 billion needed to drive projects critical to building the state’s
In the 14 years to June 2018, Melbourne’s population ballooned by 1,320,000 or 36%, with an average of 94,000 people flooding into the city each and every year, driven mostly via immigration: And over the next 48 years, Melbourne’s population is projected by the ABS to more than double to 10.2 million people, growing at
Peter Costello covered himself in glory again this week: Former federal treasurer Peter Costello says Australia’s monetary policy has probably run its course and believes some changes to responsible lending laws would stimulate the economy. Mr Costello said there was “a lot of intervention” following the Hayne royal commission earlier this year, which may have
Via News: If you use ute sales as a marker of small business investment in Australia, you get the impression small business is terrified. Sales of light commercial vehicles collapsed in October 2019, down 11 per cent compared with October 2018. At the start of the 2019, sales were much the same as last year.
Trade war going swimmingly. Via the German Chamber of Commerce in China, things are not going well: One quarter of firms have given up on Chinese expansion: A range of reasons: With trade war issues at the top: Nasty impact from tarrifs: One quarter mulling relocation: Mostly to SE Asia: Chinese growth will keep slowing.
Via the FT: China’s fixed-asset investment growth has sunk to its lowest level in two decades as the Chinese leadership’s cautious stimulus fails to prop up the domestic economy in the face of a deepening slowdown. … The deepening economic slowdown, intensified by the US-China trade row, has ratcheted up pressure on Beijing to launch
Ethical investment inflows have doubled in 2019. But, the Wall Street Journal highlights a problem near to my heart: ethical investing is not the same to everyone. Funds with a focus on socially responsible investing are enjoying a record year of inflows. But many such portfolios aren’t as clean as investors might expect. Eight of
History doesn’t repeat but it sure does rhyme. In 2006, then Treasurer Peter Costello announced that the taper rate by which the Aged Pension is phased-out would be halved from $3 per $1,000 of assets over the threshold to $1.50. This change greatly relaxed the assets test for the Pension, and led to the ridiculous
Recessionberg is looking for tax cuts. Via Domain: The Morrison government is looking at ways to deliver tax relief to middle income earners as a much-needed boost to the economy after the nation suffered its biggest one-month fall in jobs in more than three years. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government was “always looking” at
Yesterday’s ABS labour force release for October revealed a sharp deterioration in Australia’s youth labour market – i.e. those aged 15 to 24 years old – with falling jobs growth and rising unemployment and underemployment. The trend headline unemployment rate rose to 12.05% in October: Total employment growth for those aged 15-24 years fell to
Wowsers, check this out from the AFR: Malcolm Turnbull was advised in a confidential memo in the aftermath of the 2016 election that the property boom was costing the Coalition support in the outer suburbs, regional cities and towns and the government needed to shift political strategy to avoid losing power. The analysis, by current
Texture from Reuters: Steel output was also curtailed by poor profits at mills. Besides surging iron ore prices that have pressured steel firms this year, analysts also noted that output from electric arc furnaces has been affected by higher scrap steel prices. “The price for steel scrap increased by almost 100 yuan ($14.30) per tonne
DXY eased last night as EUR firmed: The Australian dollar was put to the sword versus DMs: And EMs: Gold bounced: Oil fell: Metals were crushed: But miners did better as iron ore bounced on Pavlovian stimulus hopes: EM stocks were soft: Junk was fine: Bonds roared: Stocks were soft: There was not much in
By Chris Becker Overnight risk markets are in retracement mode as the USD also falls against all the majors except the commodity proxies as Aussie, Kiwi and Loonie remain subdued. European stocks fell as bond yields dropped everywhere except in Italy, while oil prices are not moving as the latest inventory report surprises with a
In the week ended 14 November 2019, the CoreLogic 5-city daily dwelling price index, which covers the five major capital city markets, surged another 0.34%: The rise in values was broad-based, but driven by Sydney followed by Melbourne: Quarterly dwelling values continue to rise strongly, driven by Sydney and Melbourne, where prices are rocketing: The
CoreLogic’s head of research, Tim Lawless, has released interesting research on the boom in new mortgage commitments since the May Federal Election: Since moving through a trough in May, the value of new owner occupier home loan commitments has increased by 17.3% through to the end of September and the value of investor loan commitments
The Morrison Government’s regional visa incentives, which provides five extra points towards permanent residency and allows international students to stay for up to seven years, has driven a surge in enrolments into Tasmania and South Australia: Data from the International Education Association of Australia shows that student commencements in Tasmania were up by 35 per
Global Macro / Markets / Investing: Wework loses $1.3 billion against topline of $934M ahead of aborted IPO – Bloomberg Is retirement dying? The old work model is disappearing for boomers, Gen Xers – USA Today Global Economy ‘Breakdown’ Seen Putting More Workers at Risk of Slavery – VOA News Google reportedly offering checking accounts
Stocks are generally down across Asia with only local issues rising due to the fall in the Aussie dollar as the latest unemployment print undershot, sending interest rate expectations down with it. The risk off mood hasn’t been helped by a slip in Chinese industrial production numbers alongside retail sales. Chinese stocks are diverging in
So says the FT: Demonstrators and police officers are experiencing a kind of epiphany when they realise there are no repercussions for smashing the thin veneer of civility. As a consequence, the range of acceptable behaviour has widened dramatically and the most brazen and outrageous actions are becoming normalised. This is fed by social media
Via News, this does not read well for anybody: A group of 23 former fire and emergency chiefs tried repeatedly for several months to warn Scott Morrison and senior government ministers of a looming bushfire crisis. Had they been successful in their requests for a meeting, the group would’ve urged authorities to immediately lease aerial
Earlier this week, we learned that construction insolvencies are booming, according to ASIC: Insolvencies in the $150bn residential and non-residential construction industry remain at a high level… insolvencies in the three months to September jumped 78 per cent in Victoria, 41 per cent in Queensland and 7 per cent in NSW. This was a significant
Via Justin Smirk at Westpac:: The October Labour Force Survey surprised with a –19.0k decline in employment – the market median was for 16k while the lowest forecast in the range was +7k. It was a surprisingly soft update all the more so for while the participation rate eased back to 66.0% from 66.1%, as
