Blogotariat

by Angus Nicholson, for Chris Weston IG The major selloff in auto-makers worldwide over the news around VW’s emissions scandal did not bode well for the reopening of the Japanese markets. Yesterday we were predicting the Nikkei to open down 2.75%, but the benign performance seen in European and US markets eased this back to

The post ASX at the close appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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If you were working in Federal Government ICT circles back in 2008, you may recall that the then-Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government signed a $30 million deal (PDF) with local IT services group ASP for a comprehensive range of services ranging from desktop support to servers, laptops, printers and more. Well, news arrived this week that the Department is so happy with ASG — after seven years — that it has re-signed the contract.

New Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Christopher Pyne appears to have mildly misled the public on the Government’s approach to funding innovation, pushing the Coalition’s credentials in the space without mentioning the significant amount of programs and funding Tony Abbott’s administration has cut over the past several years.

by Chris Becker The Canadian dollar, or Loonie, has now fallen to 2004 lows on the back of a stronger USD and weaker oil price: This has completely wiped out the appreciation in the Loonie (which is traded USDCAD, so turn the chart upside down!) since the entry of China into the WTC and the

The post Loonie leads the Aussie appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Just in, possibly on the back of the worrying downtrend in population growth, ANZ Research are calling for two rate cuts or 50bps, taking the current cash rate to 1.5%: ANZ Research now expects the RBA to cut the cash rate by a further 50bps next year #ausecon — Warren Hogan (@anz_warrenhogan) September 24, 2015

The post ANZ adds two rate cuts in 2016 (updated) appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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news The chief executive of British incumbent telco BT has announced a significant upgrade to his company’s broadband expansion plans, with BT now planning to deliver broadband speeds of at least 300Mbps to some 10 million premises in the United Kingdom by 2020. BT is primarily upgrading its copper network with Fibre to the Node

From Craig James: Australia’s population expanded by 315,952 people over the year to March 2015 to 23,714,272 people. Overall, Australia’s population growth rate eased from 1.44 per cent to a 9-year low of 1.35 per cent.  Australia’s population grew by just 93,942 people over the March quarter– the smallest quarterly March quarter increase for nine years.

The post More on falling population growth appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MyGov – or something like it – is part of a 21st century government. It is the way of the future. But it needs careful development, testing, and selling.

Remember how one of the first actions which TPG took upon acquiring its broadband rival iiNet was to dump the FetchTV Internet television product which iiNet and its subsidiary brand Internode had been such an evangelist for back in the early days? Well, that move, it turns out, may have been something more akin to a negotiating tactic.

Cross-posted from Martin North: The ABS demographic data released today to March 2015 shows that Australia’s population growth rate has slowed to a rate last seen nearly 10 years ago to  1.4% during the year ended 31 March 2015.  Slowing growth, and the aging of the population are both drag anchors to future growth. The

The post Population growth is slowing fast appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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There’s nothing sweeter than watching rich white men eat each other alive. Mathew Kenneally is in heaven.

Microsoft has reversed a lengthy trend towards jacking up the pricing on its software for the local market, with analysis showing Australians will actually pay significantly less for its brand new Office 2016 suite released this week than users in the United States.

The Northern Territory has been undergoing a redistribution for the 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and the final boundaries were released last week.

Quite substantial changes were made compared to the draft boundaries – it was basically an entirely new map. A number of seats that were renamed in the draft were restored to their original name.