Your future is bleak, Australia, via the Dictator’s mouthpiece, The Global Times: A senior official argued that without due punishment, defaulters would only feel encouraged after it was reported China’s social credit system had blocked more than 11.14 million flights and 4.25 million high-speed train trips by the end of April. An improved social credit
Via our Chris today, whose royal commission objections are mounting towards jihad: Labor fundamentally undermined the integrity of the financial system by partially shifting responsibility for repaying debts from the borrower to the lender, which is insane. Now lenders, not borrowers, are liable for understanding borrowers’ financial circumstances and verifying whether they can service a
Via The Australian comes the idiot: Mr Foley was forced to apologise over comments he made about “white flight” occurring in Sydney’s western suburbs on Thursday, which prompted widespread condemnation from both sides of politics. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian criticised Mr Foley in Thursday’s question time, describing his words as “divisive, offensive, dangerous and nasty”.
Via UBS: Time for a housing deep dive: approvals surprise to the upside again UBS’s ‘early’/non-consensus calling the top of housing is playing out with tighter credit seeing falling activity, prices, and commencements. But positively, Mar-18 approvals rebounded to 235k, supported by booming population of 1.6% y/y, as migration surged 250k. But given our dovish
Via Creamers: Brazilian miner Vale expects iron-ore output at its premier S11D mine to reach 58-million tonnes this year, above an official forecast of 50-million to 55-million tonnes, a person familiar with the matter said. The expected increase is due mainly to selling more “canga,” or iron-ore with a higher grade of contaminants – along
BofAML says falls are over: The China backdrop remains negative but appropriately priced, while the fact that Australia is becoming a more diversified economy means that positive domestic factors should be more supportive moving ahead. The Australian dollar trade weighted index is trading close to its lowest level since 2015-16, a time when the China
AUD is soft during the morning after weak Japanese inflation: The Bondcano is bid: An XJO double-top is still in play but within a larger bullish ascending triangle: Dalian is soft: Big Iron too: And Big Oil: Big Gold is back: Banks are still taking heat. Both WBC and CBA are at massive crucial support
I’m still trying to be nice but it’s getting harder. The post-Domainfax Michael Pascoe has red-lined on houses being cheap: This won’t go down well with the housing crisis brigade, but housing affordability has not gone through the roof. It’s actually been fairly stable for the past quarter century And to the extent that housing affordability
Via the Kouk earlier this week: Do we need to be worried about Australia’s economic outlook? The Reserve Bank of Australia reckons that the next move in official interest rates is more likely to be up than down. RBA Governor has said so in recent weeks as he talks up the prospects for the economy
If you want an example of why the world’s rich are in deep trouble then look no further that today’s repulsive AFR Rich List write-up: It is Saturday night in late April at the luxurious Mar-a-Lago resort in the billionaires’ playground of West Palm Beach, Florida. Inside the dining room – a faithful replica of
Give us all a break, “Beijing Bob“: Angela Merkel is the leader of America’s most important ally. The differences between democratic, US-aligned Germany and Communist-ruled China are real. China’s cutting edge industries now challenge Germany’s lead in manufacturing. But today Angela Merkel is in China, to talk to its leaders in Beijing and to promote
EUR rallied last night and DXY fell: AUD ran around on the spot: But EMs fell: Gold bounced on renewed Korean tensions: Oil fell: And base metals: Plus big miners: EM stocks are still in trouble: Junk too: Treasuries were gobbled up: And bunds (Italian yields were flat): Stocks were soft: Why anyone would want
Via Domainfax: Crowding on Sydney’s trains has worsened significantly in just a year, new figures show, frustrating passengers and placing greater pressure on an aged rail network struggling to cope with a booming population. Trains are running during the morning peak with loads as high as 185 per cent, way above the level at which
I’m sometimes skeptical of Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. His bearishness is so relentless and florid that it’s hard to keep up. But every so often he scribbles such a ripping piece that it is impossible to ignore. To wit, from The Telegraph comes Italexit: The EU’s gendarmes are now eyeing Italy’s rebel coalition with professional curiosity. This
Iron ore price charts for May 24, 2018: Tianjin benchmark jumped $1.75 to $65.15. Paper added gains overnight. Volatility is rising as we enter the mid-year destock. More downside ahead.
AUD is off during the morning: Bonds are bid: The XJO double-top is still in play: Dalian is holding modest overnight gains: Big Iron is down with the recent short of FMG at $5 looking good: Big Gas is down too: And Big Gold: But that snapping sound you can hear is CBA breaking as
Via Elliot Clarke at Westpac: The minutes of a FOMC meeting typically hold little significance for the market. In this instance however, there is cause for a closer look. This is because the May minutes provide a clear assessment of the risks that the US currently faces, particularly with respect to inflation; financial conditions and
Via The West: The WA Liberal Party will not return $400,000 in donations from a Chinese-born businessman at the heart of allegations he funded the bribery of a senior United Nations official. The WA branch of the Liberal Party accepted a $200,000 donation from a company associated with billionaire property developer Chau Chak Wing in
Via The Australian: Woodside Petroleum chief Peter Coleman has warned of further east coast gas price rises as a global LNG shortage hits markets in as little as two years — much sooner than forecasters were previously expecting. After visits to Asian buyers in recent months, Woodside has brought its February forecast of a global
Via S&P: Australian home loan arrears rose in March. The Standard & Poor’s Performance Index (SPIN) for Australian prime mortgages increased to 1.18% in March from 1.16% in February, according to a recent report by S&P Global Ratings. Mortgage arrears remained relatively unchanged year on year in March and are lower than the decade-long average
Via Domainfax: The suburban revolt against the NSW government’s medium density code is gathering pace, with four councils granted a 12-month delay of the new rules that make it easier for homeowners to build terraces on their properties. Another five councils are seeking a deferral of the new planning rules to consider the impact of
Notice the expanding number of banks turning bearish on house prices lately? Damien Boey today argues that that is springing from a much deeper problem. Interbank funding market is redundant and therefore relevant It is well documented that interbank credit spreads are elevated by historical standards. But it is far less well understood why this
The EUR broke last night and DXY hit new highs: AUD pulled back: EM forex rallied: Gold was stable: Brent is ripping away from WTI: Base metals were mixed: Big miners down: EM stocks are still at support: Junk held on: Treasuries were gobbled up: And bunds: As the Italian puke returned: European stocks were
Via StuffNZ: In an ideal world, the CEO of Westpac New Zealand would like to see house price growth remain on hold for the next few decades. Speaking at a Trans-Tasman Business Circle breakfast in Auckland on Wednesday, David McLean said: “What we think New Zealand needs is a long period – maybe 20 or 30
Via The Guardian: Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed he has sought information from Australia’s intelligence agencies about the implications of the chair of parliament’s intelligence committee publicly revealing details of an FBI investigation provided by American officials in a private briefing. It comes as the governor of the reserve bank, Philip Lowe, called for Australia to “avoid
Via the AFR: British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta is accelerating plans to become Australia’s first large-scale manufacturer of lithium household storage batteries to take advantage of booming demand and to stop the country squandering another competitive advantage. …”We missed it on iron ore and steel and Australia can’t afford to miss it,” he said. “We’re investigating
Via Bloomie: India may levy Goods and Services Tax on cryptocurrency trading, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, even as there’s lack of clarity about their legal status in the country. The government may levy an 18 percent GST, the people said requesting anonymity as they weren’t authorised to speak to the
Iron ore price charts for May 23, 2018: Tianjin benchmark tumbled -1.7% to $63.40. Steel is heading south. Coking coal was smashed. There’s weeks left yet in this move. All charts are at crucial supports. She’s gunna break.
From Phil Lowe last night: Thank you very much for the invitation to address the Australia-China Relations Institute. It is an honour for me to be here with so many China experts. What happens in China is important to Australia, and to the broader global community. This is as true in the world of economics
Via The Guardian: Christian Porter has given a strong indication the Coalition will not set up a federal independent commission against corruption, telling Labor there is no “persuasive evidence” that current methods of tackling corruption are insufficient. The attorney general has written to his Labor counterpart, Mark Dreyfus, arguing that the establishment of a national integrity
