Blogotariat

Construction starts on one of the biggest solar farms in Australia, that will help power a green hydrogen project being developed by Queensland utility Stanwell.

The notion that Australia’s housing market is experiencing an investor “exodus” was blown apart by the latest mortgage finance data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released on Monday. The value of investor mortgage commitments jumped by 21.5% in the year to February, easily eclipsing the 9.1% growth recorded by owner-occupiers: Investor mortgage demand

The post Investors bull rush Australian property appeared first on MacroBusiness.

This makes more sense to me than any other explanation I’ve seen for the atypical rip in the gold price away from traditional drivers of DXY and real interest rates: “Gold is trading at an all time high and gold ETF demand has surged in the past week with almost $600 million of net inflows

The post Chinese irony inflating gold? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Go Albo! Bunnings has slammed a push by Woolworths for the code governing supplier relationships to be expanded to cover rivals Amazon, Costco and Chemist Warehouse, saying it would do little to lower prices and imposed a one-size-fits-all approach on unrelated business operations. Coles and Woolworths signed on to plans to make the supermarket code

The post Get set to pay Albo’s supermarkets re-election tax appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Is it any wonder? Hopeless government. Mad immigration-led economic model that systematically impoverishes. No conversation about anything that matters. Westpac with the note.  Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index down 2.4% to 82.4. The pessimism that has dominated the consumer mood for nearly two years now is still showing few signs of lifting. The latest Index read

The post Consumers lose faith in economy appeared first on MacroBusiness.

International students have been the driving force behind Australia’s record net overseas migration boom: The latest temporary visa data from the Department of Home Affairs shows that there were a record 713,144 international students in Australia at the end of February 2024: This record surge in net overseas migration has more than halved Australia’s rental

The post Make universities house international students appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Ukraine spares clowns from military draft – RIACircus performers have been declared a category of special strategic importance not subject to conscription

The government in Kiev has designated several circus troupes as enterprises of critical importance, whose employees will be exempt from mobilization, two lawmakers confirmed on Monday.

Iron ore went nuts yesterday, as it is want to do on the Dalian exchange: Coking coal was a less volatile partner: There was zero support from Chinese steel futures but SGX joined in: There was some data to excite the uninitiated. CISA late March steel output climbed. But it remains well down year on

The post Another dead cat bounce for iron ore appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Number of mini solar PV systems, dubbed "balcony solar" reaches 400,000 in Germany, but actual number might be much bigger.

Zen Energy signs long term off take deals with two wind farms, including the oldest facility in South Australia, which will be 31 years old when the contract expires.

U.S. President Joe Biden seems to be using a foreign acquisition of an American company as a rallying point for his upcoming re-election bid. Biden says Nippon Steel’s acquiring U.S. Steel will be a threat to national security, and the loss of a “national treasure.” The question is, “Is this Japanese buyout really the central issue?” By the time you’re done reading this report, you’ll understand why it is not.

My latest in The Guardian

Supermarkets are the public face of inflation. Every time we go shopping, we are reminded that just about everything costs more than it did before Covid. And shrinkflation, once subtle and insidious, has become blatant. A standard chocolate bar is now what used to be called “fun size”. A natural response, particularly for politicians seeking to divert attention from themselves, is to blame greed and monopoly power.

Last week’s dwelling approvals data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the nation approved only 12,400 homes for construction in February in trend terms: This was the worst monthly result since April 2012 and represents a run rate around 40% below the Albanese government’s 1.2 million housing target, which requires 20,000 homes

The post Hyperinflation hits home building industry appeared first on MacroBusiness.