Oh dear. The Australian. Jim Chalmers will extend energy bill rebates for another six months in Tuesday’s budget, adding an extra $1.8bn to the pre-election spending splurge with an aim of setting up a cost-of-living fight with Peter Dutton. Despite energy bills being set to increase by up to 9 per cent next financial year,
Friday night saw a very hesitant risk complex trying to digest the recent Bank of England and Swiss Central Bank meetings, while trying to anticipate what the Fanta Fuhrer in the Oval Office is going to do next with tariffs. Wall Street initially pulled back slightly in line with European stocks before rebounding later in
Harry Ottley, economist at CBA, published a terrific set of charts showing the explosion in non-market jobs, where there is often a lack of market prices and wages are heavily subsidised by the government, and the implications for Australia’s labour productivity. Ottley shows that in the year to Q4 2024, the number of employed persons
The Department of Education released data on the number of international students studying in Australia. A record 1.095 million international students were enrolled in Australia at the end of December 2024. This was up around 150,000 from the pre-COVID peak in 2019 and around 500,000 higher than a decade ago. International student commencements also hit
DXY is back and EUR flamed out. AUD is getting kicked in the teeth. And the shorts have piled back in. Lead boots tripped. Trump will regret damaging Iranian oil output. Commodities were hammered. Big miners are in a big bear market. EM yawn. Junk stressed a bit. Need more. Yields flat. Stocks flat. AUD
By Stephen Saunders Major-party election-offerings are unsympathetic to ordinary voters. Coalition indolence (and overstated Trump fears) may well re-elect Labor or (heavens no) Labor-Greens. At MacroBusiness also The Australian, I’ve portrayed Election 2025 as a winning romp for the top 20% regardless of who becomes prime minister. Meaning, little improvement across crucial indicators such as
Global Reading: Trump’s trade war could claim a new victim: Canada and Europe are reconsidering $150 million Lockheed Martin fighter jets – Fortune Billionaire Peter Thiel Warns of a Looming Real Estate ‘Catastrophe’—A ‘Massive Hit to the Lower Middle Class and Young People’ Who Can’t Buy Homes – Yahoo Trump’s US Commerce Secretary, who owns
CreditorWatch warned that almost one out of every six (16.2%) hospitality firms is at risk of failing due to high interest rates, rising rents, cost-of-living pressures, and the pandemic hangover. CreditorWatch forecast that roughly one in eleven (8.9%) food and beverage enterprises would close in 2025. The latest insolvency data from the Australian Securities and Investments
This is so dumb or corrupt that I don’t know where to look. Sky. Shadow energy minister Susan McDonald has hit out at Labor over Australia’s looming gas crisis, declaring state and federal governments needed to “get out of the way” and allow more projects to proceed. …Speaking on Sky News Australia, shadow resources minister
Australians are hurting following an 8% decline in real per capita household disposable income since the Albanese government came into office. Australian households have suffered from an inexorable rises in gas and electricity prices. Australian renters have suffered from a near 50% rise in rents since the pandemic, driven mainly by the surge in net