When the ABS released the previous installment of its Household Spending Indicator (which has replaced its retail sales index) last month, the data was further fuel for the narrative that the next move in interest rates would be up. The data revealed that October held the highest month on month growth in nominal household spending
It no longer matters where you live in Australia. Whether you’re a young person enjoying the beach in Sydney, the machetes in Melbourne, the boredom in Adelaide, the terrible driving in Perth, or any paddock in between, you can forget about owning your own home. The latest Cotality affordability report, out late last year, is
Shortly after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, U.S. President Donald Trump held a press conference announcing that the U.S. would effectively “run” Venezuela. “We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly,” Trump said. Trump went on to add that the U.S. would be
The US AI jobpocalypse took a breather on Friday night. Although job growth remains anaemic, labour market indicators were better for those who fear AI fallout. Youth unemployment fell to 10.4%. Moreover, the Challenger layoffs series recorded the lowest number of sackings in several years, with year-on-year declines of less than half. Layoffs attributed to
With the release of the latest poll from DemosAU, one of the Coalition’s worst fears has been realised: they are now neck and neck with One Nation in the primary vote. According to DemosAU, the Coalition gained 23% of the primary vote, along with One Nation, while Labor received 29% and the Greens 12%. Both
The burning of the books, along with the rounding up of all intellectuals and historians, are two of the prerequisites for any takeover of a liberal political economy by a tyrant. As any good despot knows, you can’t have the people informed about the context if you want to have them rounded up. Australian writers’
Friday night was a tale of two jobs reports – Canadian and American – with the latter NFP print coming in weak again although the headline unemployment number fell, giving USD a boost eventually after a volatile session. All the action was really in precious metals and commodities as geopolitical risk hots up across Iran
Following the release of the official Q2 2025 population statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), IFM Investors’ chief economist, Alex Joiner, published the following chart on Twitter (X) illustrating the extremeness of Australia’s recent population growth. Joiner noted that “in Q4 2000, it took 12 years of net migration to that point to
Donald Trump’s anarcho-imperialism has given DXY a new leg as snowflake EUR melts in the new world order. AUD is at critical support. CNY is still supportive. Gold is unstoppable. Oil trying again. Metals did better, but DXY up means they are going down. EM too. Junk rejection. US curve keeps steepening. Stocks liked weak
Dancing, dancing, dancing! There is no stopping the iron-ore-crazy man. Except for one small problem. Steel mill margins are being obliterated. These developments will weaken the start of 2026 steel production, especially because steel product inventories are higher than last year. And there is another problem. The iron-ore-crazy man is dancing on top of the