Australian Economy

By Leith van Onselen The ANZ-Roy Morgan Research (RMR) consumer confidence index has risen for the second consecutive week, increasing by 1.0 point (0.9%) to 113.5, taking it just above its long-run average reading of 113.2 (see next chart).

From Westpac comes a preview of tomorrow’s capex release: The 2nd estimate for 2014/15 pointed to a decline in business capex, with a sharp downturn in mining only partially offset by a lift in services sector spending.

By Leith van Onselen The South Australian Government has joined the other mainland states in banning Uber’s ridesharing service on public safety grounds.

From the AFR: Australian companies, wracked with fear, are stifling their growth by confining themselves to the domestic market, said Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s head of Australian equities, Dion Hershan.

The rise and rise of Pasconomics, otherwise known as the worship of the confidence fairy, is fast choking off the flow of oxygen to the Australian brains trust.

By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has released a new paper attempting to estimate the impact of the mining boom on Australia’s economy.

Ross Gittins is a survivor.

By Leith van Onselen Roland ‘Prezbo’ Pryzbylewski: I don’t get it.

By Leith van Onselen Business Spectator’s Adam Carr has fired another shot across the bow of us ‘doomsayers’ who believe that the unwinding of the biggest commodity price and mining investment booms in the nation’s history will cause income growth to decline and weigh on living standards.

By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has today released its permanent & long-term migration figures, which revealed that New Zealand net migration is booming and Kiwis continue to return home from Australia: New Zealand had a seasonally adjusted net gain (more arrivals than departures) of 4,500 migrants in July 2014.

Courtesy of Zero Hedge, the global bellwether for mining capex just won’t turn around: Of course, in a world in which fundamentals no longer matter, the stock price of CAT is just shy of its all time high.

By Leith van Onselen Financial services giant, Mercer, has released new research claiming that Australian public servants live on average four years longer than the rest of the population, and that this longer life expectancy poses problems for future taxpayers who will be called upon to fund their generous defined benefit pensions.

Cross-posted from Martin North’s DFA blog.

Fresh from Westpac: Although the deviation from trend narrowed a little the key message from the Index remains intact.

Another day, another bubble warning, this time from the UN, for what it’s worth.

By Leith van Onselen Here’s a story to make you laugh.

By Leith van Onselen DFP Recruitment has released its mining and resources jobs index, which registered a 2.5% fall in July – the third consecutive monthly fall – with the index also down 9.8% over the quarter: The trend shows no dramatic overnight fall but rather a steady month by month erosion in demand.

By Leith van Onselen The ANZ-Roy Morgan Research (RMR) consumer confidence index has bounced back following two consecutive weeks of falls, rising by 4.0 points (3.7%) to 112.5, taking it just below its long-run average reading of 113.2 (see next chart).

It appears MB is getting through to the brighter elements of Australian economics.

From Bloomie: Western Australia’s bonds are the nation’s worst-performing regional debt this year as an iron-ore rout clouds the finances of a borrower that’s already lost its top credit score at Standard & Poor’s.

Slowly but sure the smart money is figuring it out.