The ferrous complex is buckling. Steel output cuts are so far insufficient to lift steel prices. Iron must fall much further if steel mill margins are to be restored. Weekly data from consultancy firm Mysteel showed that fewer than 40% of the 247 surveyed steel mills were profitable, a level last seen in October 2024.
International Reading: Tesla shareholders approve Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package – CNN ‘As Ugly and Cruel As It Gets’: Trump Fights Order to Fully Fund November SNAP Benefits – Common Dreams The US national debt has just passed $38 trillion — and economists say they might never recover – News.com Tariff refunds are now
Asian equities are not doing well as markets start agitate over AI amid tonight’s looming US jobs report with the recent strength in the USD about to be tested. Continued volatility over trade wars amid the challenge to the Trump regime’s tariffs in the US Supreme Court are not helping either. The Australian dollar remains
When the Luxon government came to power in late 2023, it came with a promise to reinstate negative gearing as it previously was and reduce the holding period required for an investment property to be sold tax-free. Under the Ardern government, the duration an investor was required to hold a property for the gains to
Australians have suffered the deepest decline in real wages in recorded history. As of the June quarter of 2025, Australian real wages were tracking 6.0% below their June 2020 peak, at roughly the same level as December 2011. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP) this week, which contains
The US jobs market is being buffeted by a number of forces. reduced government spending; tarrif shocks to margins recouped through labour efficiencies; investment uncertainty owing to the orange madman; and AI. The BLS labour market data is still down, but Revelio has a decent correlation with the NFP (roughly 0.75%), and it just printed
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP) this week, which revised its medium-term unemployment rate forecast to 4.4%, up from 4.3%. As illustrated below by Alex Joiner from IFM Investors, the RBA’s unemployment rate forecast to the end of 2027 is below the current unemployment rate of 4.5%: Thus,
The Deloitte Investment Monitor for the September quarter is out. Releasing the latest edition of the quarterly Investment Monitor report, Deloitte Access Economics Partner and lead author, Stephen Smith, said: “The value of projects in the Investment Monitor database is just under $1.2 trillion in September, which is 7% higher than a year ago. “As
We’ve suddenly lurched from AI is unstoppable to a growth scare as jobs data weakens. The Market Ear. Wishing & hoping & thinking & praying AI mentions on earnings calls have exploded tenfold. Retail traders are back chasing the Mag7. Tech giants are borrowing record sums to fund data centers. For now, optimism is profit
The Grattan Institute was at it again this week, claiming that Australia could magically solve its housing shortage if governments only permitted three-storey buildings to be allowed on any residential block in any suburb. “The key problem is that state and territory land-use planning systems say ‘no’ to new housing by default, and ‘yes’ only