Victoria, Australia’s most indebted state, is projected to have $247.2 billion of debt by 2027, up from $55.2 billion in 2019: The state’s poor budgetary position is attributed to wasteful “Big Build” infrastructure projects, such as the North-East Link and the Suburban Rail Loop, alongside excessive spending on bureaucrats. Victoria’s public sector has grown by
You will struggle to find a more China-biased bank than HSBC, but here is its wrap of the Politburo meeting. Facts The April Politburo concluded on 30 April, with policymakers agreeing to hold the Third Plenum of the 20th NPC in July. The Third Plenum typically sets longer-term economic policy. The tone around the economy
Anxiety and fear over what could or could not happen at last night’s FOMC meeting was met with relief as the Fed didn’t really change signalling on its interest rate trajectory. Bond markets pulled back slightly and the USD also gave up a lot of its recent gains in the aftermath, helped by the lack
If Liberal Party senator Andrew Bragg had his way, he would pump the biggest housing bubble in history. Bragg has already lobbied for Australians to use their super to buy a home while still working rather than waiting until they reach the super preservation age to pay off a mortgage. Bragg also suggested that people
With adjustments for seasonality, the number of job ads in March 2024 rose by 0.2%, or 400, to 249,000. With almost half as many ads in the job market as there were on average for the month of March 2019, the number of available positions remains high. The point I wish to make is that
On Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its cost-of-living indices for the March quarter, revealing that employee households are the hardest hit. Employee household costs of living increased by 6.5% in the year to March 2024, easily exceeding the 3.6% increase in CPI inflation. The rise in employee cost of living also easily
Join us in this week’s investment podcast as Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer Damien Klassen and Chief Strategist David Llewellyn-Smith discuss the following: Why is Aussie inflation sticky? Will the RBA pivot back to hikes? Investment implications Can’t make it to the live series? Catch up on the content via Podcasts or our recorded Videos. Damien Klassen is Chief
Several holidays across the region plus a closed Europe tonight is not helping volatility as we head into tonight’s Federal Reserve meeting as speculation mounts as to what is going to happen to interest rates. The USD remains strong after building overnight, with the Australian dollar still in the doldrums below the 65 cent level.
Ross Gittins writes that Australia’s economy is expected to be hit by a meteor within a decade or two, with the world stopping buying fossil fuels and declaring it worthless. This means that Australia’s greatest comparative advantage is in the process of ceasing to exist. Australia has much more sunlight than most other countries and
Westpac credit card monitor is a quite useful leading indicator for retail and consumption. The Westpac Card Tracker Index has declined 2.2 points to 131.4, moving 3.2 points below its March month read. Card activity momentum has stalled, transitioning from modest expansion in Q1 to near-flat in late-April. A choppy path for card activity persists