The Australian dollar – much like most other undollars – made new highs last night on the long expected rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, with the added boost of Fed Chair Powell calling it a “neutral position” not a hawkish reaction as expected: Full statement from the Fed below – the TLDR takeaway
Australia’s Treasurer of propaganda, “Spin” Jim Chalmers, can’t stop spreading misinformation about the state of the economy. A few weeks back, Spin Jim claimed that Labor had delivered the “longest period of consecutive real wage growth in almost a decade” following eight consecutive quarters of annual real wage growth: Spin Jim’s brag came despite a 0.5%
Wall Street loved the rate cut from the Fed last night and the apparently neutral not hawkish future position espoused by Fed Chair Powell. Other risk markets also saw a lift while the USD was poleaxed across the board with Euro up sharply. Oil prices saw a small lift as did other commodities while the
Alex Joiner, chief economist at IFM Investors, posted the following chart on Twitter (X) showing the long-run collapse in construction sector productivity: “If we want to address supply issues in residential construction and deliver non-resi and infrastructure projects on time and budget, then we need to foster productivity growth in the construction sector”, Joiner said.
Tuesday’s interest rate decision saw the RBA leave the official cash rate on hold at 3.60%. In its media statement accompanying the decision, the RBA noted that the recent rise in CPI inflation had been partly driven by temporary factors, though the extent was uncertain. The RBA also noted that Australia’s labour market remains “a
IEEFA wants Albo to waste another $1bn on green iron. As Australia pours $1 billion into its Green Iron Investment Fund, it can learn important lessons from the US and EU, where several low-emissions steel projects backed by capital grants were subsequently cancelled or delayed. Projects with a “gas first, green hydrogen later” approach struggled,
China printed a bit of inflation in October, but it was pretty obviously seasonal. There is bugger all momentum in prices. The PPI was worse, though it also fell over the line in the month. Anti-involution has dented deflation but it is temporary. Bloomberg has some great charts on the great deflation. Rise of
It is time to shutter the ABC. Flag burning should be criminalised, immigration should be capped based on housing supply, and the ABC and SBS should be sold and replaced by a taxpayer-funded broadcaster only for regional and outback Australia, according to resolutions to be debated at the Liberal National Party’s state council this weekend.
Last week, I reported an AFR analysis of 16 financial reports from federal agencies, which revealed that 14 had unbudgeted increases in staff expenses totaling $841 million. Budget watcher Chris Richardson warned that the wage blowout could threaten the federal budget’s March forecast of a $42 billion deficit for this financial year, as could the billions
With the election of Zohran Mamdani to the office of Mayor of New York, an event thought practically impossible just a few decades ago has come to pass: the most populous city in the United States and the centre of the financial world has an avowed socialist as its mayor. His victory speech possessed themes