Labor handed down the ultimate pre-election pork-barreling budget, promising workers two more rounds of tax cuts and increasing expenditure in what will be the largest budget deficit since the pandemic. Major announcements included: a $17.1 billion package of income tax cuts (over five years); an $8.4 billion boost to Medicare; a $1.8 billion extension of
Not much action across Asian stock markets although offshore Chinese markets are feeling the pinch while mainland shares are unchanged as are the satellite Australian local stocks which have tread water again. The USD is also largely unchanged against the major currency pairs while the Australian dollar is failing to get back above the 63
Markets were slightly weak in February, but then turned nastily down in March. We sold down stocks at the start of March – more detail below. More market mayhem Two weeks ago, we lightened up substantially on stocks. I want to explain why we made these decisions and discuss the prevailing uncertainty in
Recall that the 2023-24 Victorian Budget expected the federal government to provide “a matching contribution” to the first stage of its Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) project. However, the federal government has so far only committed to funding $2.2 billion, leaving a potential funding hole from the federal government of $9.3 billion. The $11.5 billion expected
There is no limit to the insanity the federal government will go to to pump the property ponzi. Last week, the Albanese government announced that it will offer $3,000 interest-free loans to households to help them buy essentials. Over the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that Labor would expand ‘Help to Buy’ to encourage
At the beginning of the year, the incumbent Canadian Liberal Party were facing a wipeout at this year’s general election. Polling conducted in early January suggested that the Liberal Party could win as few as 21 seats in the 338-seat parliament at this year’s election. How things have changed. The Liberal Party changed its leader,
The ferrous jaws are back. The steel restock is done and is very depressed. Iron ore port stocks have dumped on the difficult cyclone season in Australia. Steel order books are subdued. Goldman. The forward order books of most steel mills were slightly up MoM in March, inline with seasonality. Demand from auto, appliance and
Senator David Pocock on the gas cartel. Gas producers want to open more gas fields, saying that increased supply will bring down costs. But recent history shows otherwise: gas production on the east coast has doubled during the past decade, yet prices have tripled. This is despite Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis data
Developer lobbyists, the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA), and building materials supplier Brickworks have rubbished the Albanese government’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years. The UDIA forecast that housing construction will fall 393,000 dwellings short of the target for the combined capital cities alone by 2029, amid high construction costs and
The Market Ear is all over it. That’s new SPX taking out the negative trend line that has been in place since markets started the correction. A close here or higher and things can start to squeeze more seriously. Note just how far the 50 day is trading… Source: Refinitiv Et tu NASDAQ NASDAQ breaking