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Articles from MacroBusiness

Iron ore waits for MOAR

October 3, 2024 - 10:00 -- Admin

With Chinese markets closed, SGX is wandering sideways: There is almost no scenario in which iron ore will be driven higher by fundamentals. There’s too much. The supply chain is chock-o-block. There’s more coming. And Chinese demand will struggle to hold even with stimulus give the baked-in reduction in Chinese property completions ahead. This is

China is still Japan

October 3, 2024 - 09:30 -- Admin

Bloomie is doing its best for Beijing. At 11:12 p.m. in Shenzhen on Sunday, China’s least affordable city eased rules for homebuyers. Less than an hour later, the first batch of prospective customers showed up at a sales center for a suburban project by local developer Excellence Group. It’s going to take months to see how the

Macro Morning

October 3, 2024 - 09:00 -- Admin

Risk markets remain caught between rate cut speculation, the upcoming US NFP print on Friday night and the seemingly expanding war in the Middle East, almost all without any key moves overnight. Wall Street put in a scratch session while European shares continued their very soft mood with mixed results. In currency land, some softer

NDIS ‘black hole’ threatens to disable Australia’s economy

October 3, 2024 - 08:00 -- Admin

Australian policymakers have created an even worse way to grow the economy than through high immigration and housing speculation. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has become a literal financial ‘black hole’ that is driving the nation’s jobs and growth. As The AFR’s Michael Read noted on Monday, the NDIS “was originally forecast by the

Jim Chalmers should be reported for disinformation

October 3, 2024 - 07:00 -- Admin

Recall that the Albanese government has sought to combat disinformation with a new reporting register. A page on the ALP’s website has appeared encouraging party members and supporters to “report disinformation” via an online form to “fight lies and fake news”: The form requires users to enter their name, email address, complaint information, and the media platform

Curbing immigration more important than negative gearing

October 3, 2024 - 00:10 -- Admin

A reader sent me the below meme, which neatly explains why curbing immigration is far more important for housing affordability than curbing negative gearing: Stimulating property investment via tax policies like negative gearing does push up house prices by stimulating investor demand. Investors also outbid and crowd-out first home buyers, thereby lowering the nation’s home

Reserve Bank could soon battle deflation

October 2, 2024 - 13:30 -- Admin

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is already battling deflation in the housing market, where prices nationally have declined 16.7% from their 2021 peak. This decline has lowered real inflation-adjusted house prices to pre-pandemic levels: Recent data suggests that the Reserve Bank could soon contend with falling prices elsewhere in the economy. The latest data

Recession battered retailers beg RBA for rate cuts

October 2, 2024 - 13:00 -- Admin

On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released retail trade data, which posted a solid 0.7% gain in August following an upwardly revised 0.1% lift in July (previously reported as flat): Unseasonably warm weather and increased Father’s Day spending both contributed to the result, which easily exceeded economists’ expectations of a 0.4% rise. The annual rate of

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