I’m sorry for the satirical headline. This is a serious issue. Australia’s last major plastics manufacturer, Qenos, closed in 2024 due to high energy costs. Now, Australia is wholly reliant on imported plastics from China. This week, Australia’s only architectural glass manufacturer, Oceania Glass, collapsed after 169 years of operation. Oceania Glass was Australia’s sole
Chalk up another win for El Trumpo. President Trump is preparing to issue an executive order Wednesday effectively banning transgender girls and women from participating in female sports events in schools and colleges, fulfilling a promise that fuelled his campaign for the White House. I love a good man/woman. There’s a dude/sheila at my local Bunnings with a mighty
Charlie McElligott at Nomura today on the resilience of stocks. Trump doing the dance on Tariffs (exploiting oscillating periods of market calm to inject volatility—and vice versa—which will continue into each month’s escalations), but the statement of intent is there: Structurally, he has a desire to rebalance global trade with the U.S.,reverse / reduce the
It would be hard to do a podcast on anything other than tariffs… Join us in this week as Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer, Damien Klassen and Chief Strategist, David Llewellyn-Smith, discuss the what, how, who and why. Can’t make it to the live series? Catch up on the content via Podcasts or our recorded Videos. Damien Klassen is
Goldman with the note. After signing orders imposing new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, President Trump delayed the Canada and Mexico tariffs until March 4. We think a further extension is likely, but the tariff risk for both countries is likely to remain until at least the conclusion of the USMCA review slated for
Victoria has the nation’s highest per capita net debt and the lowest credit rating. Victoria’s net debt is also projected to increase over the forward estimates. The growth in Victoria’s net debt is forecast to dramatically increase the amount of taxpayer money spent on interest payments. A new analysis from leading global ratings agency S&P,
This time John Kehoe at the AFR, who MB likes sometimes because he’s more honest about immigration, but is like his rotten fishhead boss when it comes to politics. If the RBA does bow to the weight of market and political pressure to immediately lower interest rates, Bullock should indicate that only two or three
On Wednesday, The Guardian’s Josh Nicholas penned an article claiming that Australians “hold inaccurate and occasionally contradictory attitudes” on immigration. The article is based on a new survey by the pro-immigration Australian National University (ANU), which showed that 53% of those surveyed believe that immigration levels are “too high”. The result aligns with other recent
New Zealand is experiencing a significant outflow of citizens, as illustrated by the following chart from Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro. There was a net migration loss of 48,000 New Zealand citizens in the year to November 2024. This outflow of citizens has driven net overseas migration to below-average levels. Economists have warned that New
Typically, Asian LNG market prices come off after the new year as Asia exits winter. Instead, there is a steady grind higher this year with no end in sight. This is because there is less inventory in both the US and Europe this year. Adding salt to the wound, one of China’s few tariff responses