Between the growing leaks from within the Liberal Party on how Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s leadership is terminal and the odds of bookies now showing Andrew Hastie as the odds-on favourite to be the next leader of the Coalition, Hastie’s ascension to the top job on the Australian right is increasingly seen to be a
Always follow the Fed. The Market Ear. Keep it simple… …follow the 10 year, but the US outlook is murkier than many think. Hatzius’ (GS) call for a Dec-10 rate cut lines up with softer alternative labor data showing the economy may be losing momentum. The slowdown may be necessary: once tariffs fade, tax cuts
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has debuted its highly anticipated “complete” monthly consumer price index. This new monthly CPI indicator is a major upgrade—covering nearly the entire consumption basket, using richer data sources, and giving policymakers and the public a real-time view of inflation rather than waiting for quarterly updates. The results for October
My learned colleague, LVO, today argues that wind farms are environmentally destructive. He makes some excellent points about their ecological footprint in land-clearing practices. I would only counter by saying that most of Australia’s best wind resources are in pretty remote regions. This raises the question of whether the wind resources will remain sufficient given
Renew Economy reported on Andrew (Twiggy) Forrest’s 414-megawatt (MW) Uungula Wind Farm, which has begun pouring concrete foundations for 69 turbines: “Squadron—controlled by iron ore billionaire and green energy evangelist Andrew Forrest—revealed that 11 foundations had already been poured, with foundation anchor cages currently being assembled in preparation for reinforcing steel installation and further concrete
DXY copped it last night on a swath of bad data. AUD rose, but in the circumstances, it was pretty subdued. CNY took off. JPY reversed with yields, but it’s not persuasive yet. Gold up, oil down. AI metals struggled. The chosen one launched. EM too. Junk is back. As yields tumble. Reducing stocks. Bad
Abul Rizvi is a strange guy. He has spent years attacking me and howling “racism” at anybody calling for lower, more sustainable levels of immigration. Yet when pushed, Rizvi often holds similar views. The latest case in point is Rizvi’s hand-wringing over the Albanese government’s failure to control immigration, which he claims empowers extremists. In
What price Australian smelters? Major global companies like Trafigura, Glencore and Rio Tinto are all negotiating what additional financial assistance federal and state governments are willing to provide to keep aged, uncompetitive smelters operating in Australia. …China has created a worldwide glut of refining and smelting capacity. That has driven down prices and viability for smelters in
Overnight solid earnings on tech stocks sent Wall Street higher even though NVIDIA is off somewhat with additional US economic data (or lack thereof due to the Trump regime hiding the bad news) reinforcing the notion that the December rate cut from the Fed is firming, giving a general boost to risk markets. The USD
Brisbane’s post-pandemic housing boom has trashed affordability for first home buyers and tenants alike. Turning to prices first, Proptrack reports that Brisbane dwelling values have soared by 104% since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020: The impact on affordability was illustrated in all of its hideous glory in Cotality’s latest housing affordability