The Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) proposed by the Victorian government was opposed by almost all infrastructure experts due to its high cost, lack of a business case, failure to pass any objective cost-benefit analysis, and inability to generate sufficient customer demand. For instance, the SRL East and North parts have a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of
A paradoxically unvolatile session overnight as Wall Street bounced back on a surprise downside print in US inflation while the ECB and BOE held fire on interest rate rises all of which barely moved currency markets. Asian share markets should expect a boost in the final full volume trading session before the Xmas break with
The iron ore price has risen by about 7% so far in 2025, but CBA head of commodities Vivek Dhar warns that oversupply concerns could soon see the price of the steel input fall below $US$100 per tonne. Dhar notes that demand headwinds are accelerating in China, while shipments from the Simandou project in Guinea
From the Market Ear: SOX – from sexy to soggy Over the weekend we flagged the risk of a massive SOX double top. Today, that risk is starting to materialise. SOX is slicing through the 50-day and slamming into its longer-term trend line. Lose this level and the downside gets ugly fast, with the 200-day
China (31.8% share in 2024) and India (8.3% share in 2024) have driven the increase in global carbon emissions this century. Both nations have shown an insatiable appetite for coal. In 2024, China accounted for 55.8% of the world’s coal consumption, whereas India accounted for 13.9%. Australia, by contrast, accounted for only 0.9% of the
A sea of red across Asian share markets in response to a selloff on Wall Street overnight although the falls are relatively minor locally as its mainly been tech stocks affected. Markets are awaiting the slew of central bank meetings with the BOE tonight and BOJ tomorrow. USD has strengthened a little against some of
In this week’s podcast, Nucleus Wealth’s Head of Investments, Damien Klassen, is joined by Martin North from DFA to unpack eight critical megatrends set to shape markets and investment returns in the years ahead — and why their combined impact could be powerful, complex, and often pulling in very different directions. Download Presentation Slides Here
The US unemployment rate rose to a four-year high of 4.6% in November (survey: 4.5%). The result marked the fifth consecutive monthly increase, reaching its highest level since 2021. Non-farm payrolls rebounded modestly with 64,000 jobs added. This followed a decline of 105,000 jobs in October, largely due to a 162,000 reduction in federal workers
Heading into the release of the official Q2 population and immigration data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), all indicators were pointing to an increase. A record 448,500 net permanent and long-term (NPLT) arrivals were recorded for the first 10 months of 2025: The ABS monthly NPLT arrivals series has historically tracked the official
I’ve been seeing a particular type of chart circulate more frequently: the one plotting the S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings ratio against the market’s subsequent 10-year returns. At first glance, it looks authoritative — hundreds of data points neatly arranged, a strong downward relationship, and a clear takeaway that today’s high forward P/Es imply a lost