Featured Article

By Leith van Onselen Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) deputy governor, Christopher Kent, has today given a speech to the Leading Age Services Australia National Congress on the impacts of population ageing on the Australian economy.

Citi today offers some useful analysis of the trillion-dollar question.

By Leith van Onselen The cost to Australian consumers from the construction of costly desalination plants continue to soar as rising dam levels make the investments redundant.

By Leith van Onselen Former Treasurer, Prime Minister, and architect of Australia’s compulsory superannuation system, Paul Keating, over the weekend called for curbs on self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) using leverage to invest in Australian residential property.

By Leith van Onselen Find below Westpac’s preview of the September quarter consumer price index (CPI), which is due to be released by the ABS on Wednesday: Westpac is forecasting a 0.6%qtr rise (2.4%yr) in the headline CPI in the September quarter.

By Leith van Onselen Dr Tim Williams, chief ­executive of the Committee for Sydney, yesterday gave an extraordinary speech to the National Growth Areas ­Alliance Congress in Adelaide, arguing that Australia’s cities have become the “orphans of public policy” and demanded that they receive a greater share of public funding for infrastructure.

The FT has some nice coverage of the oil market, Australia’s very important emerging commodity via LNG (on which the comatose Australian press is, as usual, snoring).

By David Llewellyn-Smith From the FOMC’s James Bullard via Bloomie: I also think that inflation expectations are dropping in the U.S.

China’s new yuan loans for September is out and shows a rebound from the recent trough but still weak growth in the larger scheme of things.

The ludicrously ideological attack underway on ANU ethical investment reaches new lows today at the AFR with a story attempting to concoct  conspiracy where, in fact, there is nothing more than various folks sharing green views.

By David Llewellyn-Smith And so, the most forecast market crash in history has arrived. Taper tantrum 2.0 (TT2), right on cue. Is it any different to taper tantrum 1.0 (TT1)?

By Leith van Onselen NAB has released its Quarterly Australian Residential Property Survey which revealed a big jump in foreign demand for Australian property.

China’s September inflation is out and has sunk to its lowest level since the GFC at 1.6%, miles below the official target of 3.5%.

RIO’s 3rd quarter production is out and around estimates: Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh said “We have delivered another strong quarter with record iron ore production and a solid performance in copper and aluminium.

Welcome to the joys of being an energy producer.

By Leith van Onselen Fairfax’s Peter Martin has posted an interesting article today on the worsening employment situation in Victoria, which threatens to scuttle the incumbent Liberal Government: No state other than Tasmania performed as badly.

Whoa!

The September NAB business survey is out and the flush of post-election exuberance is fading as expected.