The latest housing construction data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is a disaster. Only 37,200 homes commenced in the December quarter in trend terms, the worst quarterly result since June 2012. This gives an annual run rate of 148,800, around 91,000 below the Albanese government’s construction target of 240,000 homes annually. Dwelling approvals
Go Straya: Chemicals major Qenos has called in voluntary administrators after its former Chinese owners sold the company to property developer Logos. The plastics maker runs plants in Victoria and NSW, and on Wednesday appointed McGrathNicol as voluntary administrators. I’m not sure who will want to live there. The Qenos factory site is putrid: But
The trade war is back: The new tariffs Biden is pushing — meant to shore up the American steel sector and court its workers — would impose 25% levies on certain Chinese steel and aluminum products. They would be applied as part of an ongoing review, while the US also launches a formal probe into
The latest on the correction from The Market Ear. Fear vs SPX Lot of fear across various indicators, but things haven’t really spilled over to equities…yet. Macromicro Retail not panicking Morgan Stanley on Retail action for the sell-off Monday: “In terms of flow, MS QDS team notes that retail is pulling back a little on
The USD finally moved lower after a week of strength on the back of war jitters across the Middle East, but Wall Street still fell back as Fedspeak overnight again highlighted inflationary fears. Asian stock markets are likely to start in the red again today because of the risk off mood with the Australian dollar
Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro published the below chart showing that labour shortages are rapidly easing across Australia: Low-skilled positions, in particular, have become much easier to find, with the share of employers reporting recruitment difficulties falling to pre-pandemic levels. The data makes sense in light of the record surge in international students, with the
DXY eased off: AUD backed away from the cliff: North Asia helped: Oil tanked: Metals are still warm: Miners popped with the iron ore loon: EM is stuck again: Junk pulled out of the dive: As yields fell: But stocks corrected anyway: Bloomie wraps it up: Treasuries rebounded a day after Jerome Powell threw cold water
In early April, CISA steel output data fell away as the Q2 peak season was supposed to ramp it up. There is no trend to suggest increases, either: Nor did steel stockpiles move much, down a meager 0.9%. This is flat year on year, despite output being 9% lower. This continues the rate of descent
Economists have raised concern that stronger-than-expected US inflation figures could mean local prices continue to rise, delaying the path to interest rate cuts. HSBC’s chief economist for Australia, Paul Bloxham, also warned that Australia was lagging behind the US on productivity, which would keep inflation elevated and delay rate cuts until early 2025. “There’s another
Asian stock markets are still in flux after the rocky start to the trading week following the escalation in conflict across the Middle East, with somewhat hawkish Fedspeak overnight not helping risk sentiment either. The USD remains strong against most of the undollars while bond markets continue their selloff. The Australian dollar is failing to