Blogotariat

Oz Blog News Commentary
MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - 00:05 Source

Realestate.com.au posted an article claiming that the price of vacant land in Victoria has risen above the cost of established homes, creating a major barrier to the Albanese government’s housing targets. Despite the median home price falling over the past two years to make Melbourne the nation’s fifth most affordable capital, new figures show the

The post It’s too expensive to build housing in Australia appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 20
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 21:54 Source

US President Donald Trump has reposted a CNBC article citing Russian President Vladimir Putin on his social media account. The piece quoted the Russian leader as predicting that the Trump administration would soon “restore order” in Europe, as Washington’s allies would quickly “stand at the feet” of their “master.”

Read more Views: 22
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 20:09 Source

US President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to Hamas, demanding the release of all remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza by midday Saturday, and warning that failure to comply would result in “all hell”breaking out.

Read more Views: 30
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 20:06 Source
Read more Views: 25
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 17:30 Source

Asian share markets are mixed in reaction to the latest round of tariff demands from King Trump with Chinese shares this time pulling back while Japanese equity markets are closed for yet another holiday. The USD remains strong against most of the undollars over the weekend gap following last weeks US jobs report with the

The post Macro Afternoon appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 18
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 17:28 Source
Read more Views: 22
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 17:21 Source
Read more Views: 16
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 15:21 Source

The Trump administration is turning up the heat on George Soros’ soft power empire amid revelations of his Open Society Foundations’ close-knit links to and alleged profiteering off USAID. Is there a case for convicting the 94-year-old benefactor and beneficiary of the US imperial project? If so, where does it lie?

 

Financial Crimes

Read more Views: 27
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 14:57 Source
Read more Views: 20
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 14:14 Source

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to secure a deal with Kiev to ensure Washington gets its money back by trading aid for Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals – regardless of whether “they may be Russian someday.”

Read more Views: 19
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 14:00 Source

Kevin07 has work cut out for him. President Donald Trump’s plan to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports has been branded an “insult” to the Australian people and America’s key security partner in the Indo-Pacific. Democratic congressman Joe Courtney, who co-chairs the Friends of Australia Congressional Caucus, singled out Australian taxpayers’

The post Offer Rudd’s head for tariff exemption appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 21
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 13:40 Source
Read more Views: 24
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 13:30 Source

The Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index is out, with sentiment largely unchanged in February, edging up 0.1% to 92.2 from 92.1 in January. Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index basically unchanged in February. Firming rate cut expectations supporting a positive outlook for finances. Weaker current finances point to post–Christmas ‘hangover’. Unsettled global backdrop restraining expectations for the

Read more Views: 17
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 13:13 Source
Read more Views: 20
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 13:00 Source

Yallourn power station (supplied).

Read more Views: 17
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 13:00 Source

BofA is pretty good at US inflation and January does tend towards stronger numbers. Core inflation should pick up in January We forecast core CPI inflation of 0.3% m/m (0.33% ungrounded) for January. They/y rate should tick down a tenth to 3.1%, due to favorable base effects. We also expect headline CPI to increase by

The post US CPI preview appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 19
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 12:56 Source
Read more Views: 24
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 12:30 Source

New data from Ray White, published in News.com.au, suggests that property investors continue to flee Victoria following state government land tax hikes. Ray White claimed that investors owned more than one-third of the 4332 Melbourne homes the agency auctioned in the 12 months to February 6, 2025, and 32.2% of regional Victorian homes auctioned. Ray White

The post Investor pain is first home buyers’ gain appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 14
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 12:29 Source
Read more Views: 13
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 12:00 Source

Steel profitability is just about gone. CISA has solid output to start the year. The main price driver right now is seaborne uncertainty. Several storms across Australia’s north have damaged port infrastructure and disrupted shipments of iron ore and coal, with more rainfall threatening to saturate the operations of miners including Rio Tinto Group. But

The post Pilbara killer moving fast appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 17
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 12:00 Source

Opposition is building against Peter Dutton’s plan to reinstate a “golden ticket” visa for wealthy investors who commit $5 million to enter Australia. These visas were abolished by the Albanese government one year ago. Dutton announced his intention at a Liberal Party fundraiser last month after a migration agent, Min Li, requested he reinstate the

The post Australia must axe all retirement visas appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 12
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 11:30 Source

A new energy shock is brewing as a cold European winter stalks Australia. European gas storage is falling the fastest since 2021. Prices are reacting, at two-year highs unseasonably. LNG imported to Australia is about $26Gj at these prices. Still nearly double today’s local prices. The cartel appears to be playing dead heading into the

The post Gas cartel plays dead going into election appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 25
John Quiggin Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 11:02 Source

This is a follow-up to my previous post on the end of US democracy and its implications. Here I will discuss how what’s left of the democratic world can respond.

Surprisingly in many ways, the military part of dispensing with the US is the easiest bit, in each of its major areas of operation: Europe, Taiwan, and the broader Asia-Pacific region including Australian and New Zealand.

As regards Europe, NATO would be massively stronger with the US (100 000 troops in Europe) out and Ukraine (Zelensky claims 800 000) in. 

Read more Views: 19
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 11:00 Source

Victoria is the most indebted state in Australia, with the lowest credit rating. Victoria’s net debt is projected to skyrocket in the coming years, which is expected to result in additional credit rating downgrades. When these downgrades occur, interest payments will skyrocket, increasing costs for Victorians and resulting in more taxes and less funding for

The post Victorian taxpayers trapped in no-win situation appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 16
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 10:50 Source
Read more Views: 16
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 10:45 Source
Read more Views: 13
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 10:30 Source

The Market Ear on ludicrously overbought gold. Gold – on the road to 3k Unstoppable gold continues surging today again. As we have been pointing out recently: gold is overbought, but there is room for it to move even higher before we reach the upper part of the channel (comes in around $3k). Source: Refinitiv

The post Golden bubble inflates appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 13
Cheeseburger Gothic Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 10:12 Source

Read more Views: 19
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 10:00 Source

Current market pricing has ascribed a 93% probability that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will cut the official cash rate at next week’s monetary policy meeting. CBA’s head of Australian economics, Gareth Aird, ascribes an 80% probability of a 0.25% rate cut next week. Aird noted that the Q4 24 trimmed mean CPI came

The post Has RBA slain the inflation dragon? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 16
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 09:30 Source

DXY is firm. AUD too. Not lead boots. Commods ripped. Miners not so much. EM yawn. Sooner or later, junk will either rally or kill the wider bull. Curve steepened. Stocks have another crack ATH. I’m not sure why the sudden surge in commodities. Lifting global PMIs, for the most part. With some tariff hedging

The post Australian dollar joins commodity burst appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 16

Pages