The Australian’s Judith Sloan has challenged Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ claim that the federal government has “made a lot of progress together in our first term making our economy more productive, dynamic, and resilient”. Sloan noted that labour productivity is at 2016 levels and business investment’s share of the economy is similar to that of the
DXY is bottoming again. The Australian dollar has been trading a solid up channel. But at the lows it risks breaking. Lead boots are going nowhere. Gold is stuck, oil bouncing on Russia risk. Metals mania is caput. Big mining bear fully intact. EM toppy. Junk is all blue skies. Yields quiescent. Stocks faded. There
Wall Street failed to make new highs overnight as risk markets await the looming Fed meeting and Friday’s jobs numbers amid absorbing the latest trade “frameworks of deals that likely won’t be respected” as peripheral nations still wait the 20-25% proposed tariff slog by the Trump regime, including Australia. The USD remains highs against
The federal government was advised by eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant to scrap YouTube’s exemption from laws banning people under the age of 16 from using social media, which are scheduled to take effect in December. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared with David Spears on ABC Insiders over the weekend, where Albanese claimed that the eSafety
You do not have this high an agreement on whether the Earth is round. AFR. Research by pollster Redbridge for the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association – which represents “downstream” gas businesses – found voter support for a domestic gas reserve at 86 per cent, while less than 5 per cent of voters expressed any
Australia’s economy ranked 102nd out of 145 countries on the latest Harvard Atlas of Economic Complexity, which measures the diversity and knowledge intensity of a country’s export mix. Australia ranked behind Bangladesh (100) and Senegal (101). The ranking suggests that Australia has become one of the least self-sufficient and sophisticated economies in the world. ABC
Asian share markets are generally weaker across the board as risk markets try to absorb the impact of the latest trade “deal” from the Trump regime while also anticipating some pretty big macro and economic releases in the coming session. Wall Street is the only light of hope for the bubble boys as earnings continue
New Zealand has experienced a sharp increase in its unemployment rate, which has risen from 3.4% in Q1 2023 to 5.1% as of Q1 2025. New Zealand’s youth unemployment rate has also risen from 10.7% in Q1 2023 to 12.9% as of Q1 2025. However, youth unemployment did decline by 0.5% between Q4 2024 and
Lifting Australian defence spending is a policy no-brainer. Our security environment is rapidly deteriorating as China turns to bellicose assertion of its interests via a large blue-water navy. Ignoring the recent missile drills by a Chinese nuclear-capable flotilla minutes off Sydney is ridiculous. We need a credible threat to respond to such activity, or every
The Market Ear on the inflating bubble. Crazy can get crazier Even at all-time highs, markets still seem to have firepower left. Systematic buyers are stepping in, retail is betting on AI small caps, and hedge fund net length remains below peak. We’re not saying it’s rational—but in the land of melt-ups, “crazy can get