BHP is down 1%, RIO half that and FMG is minus -3%. There’s no obvious reason why. To the indexes: Idiocy spreads are creeping closed (except for BHP but that’s largely South 32): Juniors are eroding with BCI down again and now off 27% since it reached “sitting duck” status: Dalian has dropped another point today
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By Leith van Onselen Readers may recall HIA-CBA Housing Affordability Index that mysteriously rose along with house prices. That report died quietly after MB led a media charge against its…ahem…questionable methodology. But like any good Hydra, another head has appeared in its truncated place. The Adelaide Bank/Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has released its quarterly
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By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released retail sales figures for the month of April, which registered flat (0%) seasonally-adjusted growth in sales over the month. Annual sales growth clocked in at 4.1%: The below chart maps out seasonally-adjusted sales growth by segment on a monthly and annual basis: As
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From Citi, The latest EIA PSM data show continued strong US demand growth through 1Q’15 and a y/y rise in net oil imports in March for the first time in 50 months(see figure 1). US oil demand growth, up 481-k b/d y/y in 1Q’15 and lower production growth have stalled the US’ march towards energy
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Fresh from Port Hedland, iron ore exports for the month totalled 38Mt an increase of 1.9Mt or 5% from the same month in 2014: The jump signals the past month’s restocking.
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From the Westpac submission to the Tax Reform White Paper: More Efficient Ways for the System to Solve for Growth Westpac believes that a more sustainable way of ensuring the system can best support growth in periods of higher credit demand is to increase the source of high quality bank funding to support lending. Banks
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From the AFR: The IEA calculates said that assuming a 14.5 per cent slope of LNG sales prices to crude oil in long-term contracts, a drop in the crude oil price from $US100 a barrel to $US50 would reduce the Australian projects’ revenues by $US20 billion a year. …The IEA appeared to place little confidence in Woodside Petroleum’s
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By Leith van Onselen In what is becoming an increasingly regular occurrence, Fairfax has reported yet another epic failure of Australia’s compliance/surveillance regime governing sales of existing dwellings to foreign nationals, which failed to prevent the sale of one of Australia’s biggest trophy homes. From The AFR: The mystery owner of Australia’s most famous trophy
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From our betters at the OECD: Growth is projected to dip to 2¼ per cent in 2015 but pick up to nearly 3% in 2016. Gathering momentum in consumption, non-resource investment and exports help the economy adjust and recover from the fall in commodity prices and unwinding resource-sector investment. Consumer price inflation has been dented
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By Chris Becker A somewhat confusing picture overnight as the US Biege Book, an indicator of economic strength, showed moderate regional growth across the US after the poor first quarter, while the US services PMI expanded but not as strongly as anticipated. Combined with the ruckus from ECB President Draghi and his nonchalance attitude towards
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