There is no “think tank” in Australia that has done more harm to households than the industry-captured Grattan Institute. On the two critical economic inputs over the last decade – energy and immigration/housing – Grattan advice has consistently favoured sponsors over Australians. Despite the destruction this is causing to the economy, the so-called “institute” continues
In this detailed interview with John Stanley from Radio 2GB, I discuss several critical areas of policy failure that are damaging the Australian economy and trashing living standards. Of particular note, I deride Resources Minister Madeleine King, who last week rejected the notion of reserving East Coast gas for domestic use on the grounds that
The ABC’s business editor, Michael Janda, has published the following chart showing the sharp increase in short-term home re-sales, which he says is evidence of struggling borrowers bailing out and selling. “While it’s impossible to find an exact number, there is strong evidence that a significant cohort of struggling borrowers have bailed out and sold”,
Only Treasurer Jim “Chicken” Chalmers is so inept as to misfire tax cuts into lousy spending and a rate hike scare. Westapc’s Red Book makes plain that is exactly what he has done. Households are going to save the tax cuts. Westpac superb Red Book: The main takeaways from our May survey were that consumers
Chinese property sales are fading away again: Developing funding spreads have improved but not enough: Local government infrastructure bonds are materially below last year: On the upside, pre-Trump exports are booming: There is no recovery for steel here. And looking ahead, the model itself is disastrous. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Beijing has not delivered on its long-promised
Iron ore is rebounding on Poliburo yawnulus hopes but steel barely raised an eyebrow, opening the jaws even wider: CISA mid-July steel output faded away: MySteel indexes are very weak: Global steel scrap is now sitting on long-term support as it gets sucked down by the China steel glut: Why is steel output so weak
Wall Street reversed course on Friday night after it and other risk markets spent most of last week seeking shelter in safe havens for a variety of macro and political reasons. This was despite a slight rise in US core inflation and continued mixed earnings in US stocks, but was really just about selling exhaustion.
Bloomberg weighs in on the Aussie rates debate today: Debate over whether Australia’s central bank needs to deliver a late-cycle policy tightening is likely to be resolved with the release of quarterly inflation data this week — and the currency is set to be swept up in the fallout. Headline consumer prices probably advanced 3.8%
The Market Ear investigates. How long is this risk off going to last? 1. Expect short-term stabilization into the Fed meeting early next week. 2. Bearish risk bias persists until a bigger correction and position unwind occurs, possibly in August. 3. A strong year-end rally for risky assets is anticipated if the correction happens in
On Friday, I published data compiled by independent economist Tarric Brooker showing the massive divergence in spending by different age cohorts. Brooker’s data shows that Australians under 45 cut their real discretionary consumption over the 19 years to 2021–22. And that was before inflation took off, which led to further spending cuts, as the CBA below