Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) chairman, Wayne Byers, has hosed down speculation that the regulator would take action to cool Australia’s rapidly rising property market: “Risk for the financial system occurs when lending standards are poor or weak,” Mr Byres told a Committee for the Economic Development of Australia event. “We don’t see that up
The Australian’s higher education shill, Tim Dodd, has penned another article lamenting the loss of international student ‘exports’, which are tipped to halve according to new data from the Mitchell Institute: Australia’s highly successful education export business, worth over $40bn in 2019, will see its value halved by the end of next year unless international
Domain has released its March quarter house price report which has reported the steepest national price growth in almost 18 years, driven by universal price growth across every capital city: At the national level, house prices rose 5.7% to just under $900,000, with annual gains also hitting double digits (10.0%). Sydney led the way recording
Look’s like the US Federal Reserve is “looking through” the blip in inflation figures in the US and has remained very accomodative overnight in its latest statement and subsequent press conference with no talking of tapering. The USD dropped against most of the majors on the release, but stocks were non-plussed and barely moved. At
A big night on equity markets with an avalanche of earnings reports on Wall Street just after the latest Federal Reserve meeting which in the end was a fizzer for stocks all round. The only real volatility was in the currency and bond markets with USD pulling back against all the majors while bond yields
by Chris Becker Spot iron ore retreated ever so slightly yesterday from its record high but still above $190 per ton while futures settled down from their recent frothy highs, but its sure to be short term: With another record trade surplus, exports of iron ore have been booming with over $14 billion launched overseas
Australia’s chronically low wage growth is now considered by many economists, including RBA governor Phil Lowe, as being one of the key barriers to the Australian economy’s post pandemic recovery. As such, it is disheartening to read regular stories from the mainstream media lamenting that the loss of temporary migrant workers due to COVID has
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday released consumer price index (CPI) data for the March quarter of 2021, which revealed that property rents across the combined capital cities fell sharply over the prior 12 months. While property rents were dead flat (0.0% growth) of the quarter: However, over the year to March 2021, rents
Global Macro / Markets / Investing: Crop prices soar to 8-year high, renewing food inflation fears – Chicago Business Trans-Pacific deteriorating, brace for shipping ‘tsunami’ – Freight Waves Central bank currencies going digital – Bruegel Americas: Biden Seeks $80 Billion to Beef Up I.R.S. Audits of High-Earners – NY Times The Fed helped fuel a
Asian stock markets are rallying for the most part across the region with the latest CPI print locally shooting to the underside and given local stocks a small boost. The Australian dollar is trying to stave off a freefall while USD fights back against Yen as we head into tonight’s very important Fed meeting. Bitcoin
A new research paper from the Ronzetti Initiative for the Study of Labor Markets predicts that working from home (WFH) will stick after the pandemic ends, with 20% of full workdays to be performed remotely long-term versus 5% previously. It also estimates a 5% productivity uplift from WFH: We survey more than 30,000 Americans over multiple
Via Bill Bishop’s excellent Sinocism: Australia ‘is sick’, needs to take medicine: China’s Foreign Ministry – Global Times China is not responsible for the current difficulties facing China-Australia relations. It is the Australian side that torn up the cooperation agreement between China and Australia, sabotaging normal exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, China’s Foreign
Last year, the Department of Defence told a Senate estimates hearing that Australia’s new submarine fleet would cost $89.7 billion – a 12% increase on the previous estimate of $80 billion in November 2019. Defence also told Senate estimates that work on the first of 12 submarines would not begin for several years, and that
The Morrison Government’s bungled vaccine rollout faces further hurdles with almost two thirds of Australians unwilling to get vaccinated, according to the latest Essential Poll: One in six Australians also said they never intend to get vaccinated, with another 42% open to the idea but under no sense of urgency. Last week, health department secretary
As noted earlier, Australia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in at only 0.6% in the March quarter – well below market expectations of a 0.9% rise: Annual CPI also came in at only 1.1% in March, well below the RBA’s target of 2% to 3%: Looking at the major components, you can see that quarterly
Public Health Association of Australia president Tarun Weeramanthri has urged the national cabinet to end the ‘political blame game’ over hotel quarantine and address deficiencies with the system. He says airborne transmission of COVID-19 in hotels with inadequate ventilation is the single biggest risk in terms of the virus spreading: Weeramanthri said this Friday’s national
The latest (sic) quarterly inflation report from the ABS has dented hopes of a higher Australian dollar following its release, with headline CPI at 0.6% for the quarter, much lower than the 0.9% expected with the yearly print also undershooting, at just above 1% instead of the 1.4% expectation. The Aussie has fallen sharply back
It’s a golden time for commodity bulls with almost every major primary product putting in yearly or even decade highs. Iron ore is cracking through an 11 year high, about to spike through $200 spot prices: Crude oil is almost back to its pre COVID highs, tripling in the process: Meanwhile copper has more than
The Age’s economics editor, Noel Towell, has penned an article entitled “For a fairer greener Melbourne, take a bite from the doughnut”. It calls for a redesign of Melbourne’s economy using the “doughnut” theories of Oxford University’s Kate Raworth. “Melbourne is known as being one of the world’s most liveable cities with a great quality
The Conversation’s editor, Peter Martin, has penned an article bemoaning the collapse in Australia’s productivity growth since 2005: According to Peter Martin: The high point for Australia’s productivity growth was 2005 (as shown above), “driven by an ever-building surge in output per working hour (“productivity”)”. But from 2005 onwards, Australia’s productivity growth collapsed. “In the
According to Domain, the price differential between house and apartments has hit 66%, which is the widest gap on record. This gap, in turn, is reportedly driving home buyers towards apartments: Stuart Penklis, head of residential at developer Mirvac… says there’s now a discernible shift in owner-occupiers and families choosing apartments. “Before, people aspired to
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year, 11% of Australian mortgages were on a deferred payment plan, numbering 488,249 mortgages at the peak in May 2020: Since then, the number of mortgage deferrals has gradually shrunk to the point that there are now only a few thousand mortgage holders remaining on deferred payment
The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index falling 1.4% in the weekend of 24-25 April to 112.4 points, although it remains above the four-week average of 112.1 points: According to ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, the fall in confidence was driven by the snap three-day lockdown across Greater Perth: The three-day lockdown of the
Another shaky night on equity markets as traders position themselves for tonight’s Federal Reserve meeting which could prove crucial to the future of the correlated post-COVID bubble. Wall Street was largely unchanged although tech stocks pulled back in line with European bourses with Treasury yields lifting off the deck. The USD was up ever so
by Chris Becker Yet another record high in iron ore prices yesterday as spot prices barrel in on the $200 level, while rebar and coking coal futures took a breather, as calls begin to mount to “stabilise” the market. Demand continues to drive price, according to S&P Global Platts: “What we are witnessing is the
Earlier this month, the ABC’s business editor, Ian Verrender, penned a fantastic article debunking the business lobby and Coalition’s incessant claim that Australia is experiencing chronic skills shortages, thereby necessitating the large-scale importation of foreign workers. Verrender’s key arguments were as follows: The shortage claim lacks empirical evidence: “If it really is the case that
Last week, CoreLogic’s Research Director, Tim Lawless, provided seven early indications that Australia’s property market is beginning to slow. These were: Slowing growth of the daily dwelling values index; Falling auction clearance rates; Rising new listings; Rising dwelling commencements; Falling net overseas migration; Reduced fiscal stimulus; and Growing affordability constraints. These developments led Tim Lawless
Global Macro / Markets / Investing: Time to ‘buckle up’ as ‘inflation’ mentions soar during earnings calls, BofA warns – Market Watch Bitcoin Makes A Comeback And Rebounds By More Than 8%, Approaching The $54,000 Mark – Smart Globies Climate change will devastate the world economy by 2050 if we don’t get serious now, people.
Another mixed day across Asia with the latest BOJ interest rate meeting rattling Japanese stocks somewhat while the USD remains weak against Asian and commodity currencies going into tomorrow night’s Fed meeting. Bitcoin finally made a move this afternoon after stalling overnight as it breaks towards the $55K level in light of Tesla’s investment: Chinese
CoreLogic has released its March quarter rental review, which reveals that national rents grew by 3.2% over the first quarter of 2021 – the strongest national rental growth since 2007: In the year to March 2021, rents grew by 3.9% nationally. Rental growth was much stronger in Q1 across the combined regions (4.1%) than the
