Blogotariat

Fortescue Metals Group is gearing up to test whether it can run its Pilbara-based Christmas Creek iron ore mine on solar, alone, during the day.

Via Scummo: Combined with the damage of the stage three lockdown, it will cost the nation $10 to $12bn overall. “This is a heavy blow, a heavy blow: 80 per cent of this economic cost is expected to be in the affected areas of Victoria, of around $6 billion to $7 billion in that state,”

The post Stop whining, start printing: VIC lockdown $12bn nothing burger appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Victoria has recorded another 471 COVID-19 infections, down from yesterday’s record 725: There was another 8 deaths overnight in Victoria. NSW recorded only 12 new cases, the same as yesterday. It is also doing a far better job containing outbreaks and preventing community transmission: Victoria now has 7,449 active COVID-19 cases, 96% of the nation’s

The post VIC records another 471 COVID-19 infections vs NSW’s 12 appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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BP's commitment to massive investment in renewables and EVs, and a huge fall in oil production, hailed as significant step for the oil industry.

Silicon Valley continues to sprawl in influence, and its modern robber barons bestride the globe with a confidence verging on contempt. The technology giants that mark that region of California are praised as “virtuosos of ingenuity,” to use Steve Forbes’ words, “creating and supplying products and services that were once unimaginable and that have been…

The post Big Tech Antics: The Data Robber Barons Appear Before Congress appeared first on The AIM Network.

Good news here, via the AFR: The federal government is planning a series of housing initiatives for the October 6 federal budget, but has rejected growing calls to fund large-scale social housing projects, saying that was more of a state responsibility. Housing Minister Michael Sukkar told a closed conference last week that housing would be

The post Morrison out of ideas to save property prices appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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We begin, as always, with Labor and the once hawkish Richard Marles, at Domain: Opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles says a Labor government would not let backbenchers lead the debate on China, accusing the Morrison government of letting “fringe dwellers” damage Australia’s relationship with its biggest trading partner. Mr Marles hit out at government MPs

The post Revenge of the CCP-Nazi apologists appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Via Martin North: DFA has released our latest results from our rolling 52,000 household surveys. As a result of the economic slowdown (which was already underway before COVID) and exacerbated by the COVID restrictions, more households are falling into financial stress. We define stress in cash flow terms – money in and money out –

The post All Australian property is turning into Perth appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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By William Olson   Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president Michele O’Neil has hit out at the hypocrisy of the Morrison government’s committal of funding geared to support Victoria’s mostly privatised area of early childhood education centres while doing nothing to aid marginalised workers within the sector. O’Neil and the ACTU have pointed out that…

The post Early childhood workers left out in support package, says ACTU appeared first on The AIM Network.

Via the excellent Jonathon Mott at UBS: Two steps forward… one big step back? With Melbourne moving to Level 4 lockdown (all non-essential businesses closed), the outlook for the Australian economy and banks has deteriorated sharply. After a strong economic bounce from May until early July, this is a clear setback. While the assumptions underpinning

The post UBS: Aussie banks mull “artificial dividends” appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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A couple of charts today make the point. Real interest rates have room to fall further: Gold ETF flows are still very small:   AUM proportions dedicated to gold are still WAY down versus previous peaks: Probably the best chart of all, DXY is still very high: The lows of the GFC period are 24%

The post Plenty of fuel left in the gold rocket tank appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Iron ore prices for August 5, 2020: Spot up. Paper up more. Iron ore has now caught the monetary tailwind out of the falling US dollar. Chinese empty apartments are still fine: Brazil is still sick: But it has exited shutdown more swiftly than elsewhere: I’m still hanging on. But if we get one more

The post Daily iron ore price update (monetary) appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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The Morrison Government should do a major volte-face on its virus suppression strategy. There are three reasons. First and most important, elimination is the best way forward. Virus-free New Zealand is tracking for far better economic, lifestyle and health outcomes than Australia is. I Second, governments in the virus-free states of WA, SA, QLD, TAS,

The post ScoMo left behind as Australia votes for virus elimination appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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