Last week, Statistics New Zealand reported that the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 5.2% in Q2 2025, the highest rate since Q4 2016. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, New Zealand’s underemployment rate also surged, suggesting significant surplus capacity in the labour market. The rise in New Zealand’s labour underutilisation rate comes
In July last year, Stage Three tax cuts delivered the average household $2.200 per annum. These tax cuts have helped support a modest recovery in consumer spending. Perhaps the largest reason why the boost has been so modest, and is falling away fast, is that while the tax cut delivered an incremental gain in income,
Earlier this year, economist Chris Murphy noted that the historical effective average income tax rate in the first two decades of this century was 23%. Even with stage three income tax cuts worth around $23 billion per year, Murphy warned that bracket creep would lift the average tax rate by two percentage points to 25%
Australia currently has the highest share of temporary migrants and international students as a percentage of our population in the advanced world. The latest temporary visa data from the Department of Home Affairs shows that there were a record 2,460,000 temporary migrants in Australia (excluding visitors) in Q2 2025. This figure was up a whopping
Friday night saw most stock markets rise including the NASDAQ which put in another record high despite obvious concerns that asset prices are overextended, but traders are betting on forthcoming cuts from the Federal Reserve amongst others in the battle against the Trump regime’s tariffs. The USD was mixed or lower against the majors although
DXY was uncertain Friday night. AUD too. Lead boots are stalled. Gold is sniffing Fed capitulation. Oil is sniffing Ukraine peace. Metals are trading DXY. The big bear is intact. EM trying again. But junk stalled. As yields popped, sniffing the opposite of gold. The bubble expands. This week, the big report is the US
ANZ has a hilarious cash rate analysis today. It has been, and remains, one of the most hawkish forecasters. We expect a 25bp rate cut from the RBA’s 11–12 August Monetary Policy Board meeting. The ‘no change’ decision in July showed the Board does not see itself as under pressure to cut the cash rate
By Lucinda Jerogin, Associate Economist at CBA It was a quiet week domestically with the ABS Monthly Household Spending Indicator surprised to the downside, rising by 0.5% in June to be 4.8% higher annually. Australia’s goods trade balance printed at $5.4bn in June. Offshore, the BoE cut the bank rate by 25bp to 4.0% as
After months of strong results, Australia’s auction market has experienced a loss of momentum alongside a stalling of price growth. Last week’s final auction clearance rate fell to 67.1%, the lowest clearance rate in six weeks. PropTrack also recorded slower price growth over the July quarter: Cotality’s preliminary auction results for this weekend indicate a pause
International Reading: Trump 2.0 is “Hoover 3.0.” GDP growth under Trump 1 was the worst since Hoover. But with tariffs, he’s now beating his own record. – Independent Social Security Predicted to Run Out of Money Sooner Due to Trump Bill – Newsweek Almost 90% Of Americans Are Worried About The Cost Of Groceries –