On Wednesday, Statistics New Zealand released labour market data for the June quarter, which revealed that New Zealand’s unemployment rate rose 0.2% over the quarter to 4.6%, in line with the Reserve Bank’s forecasts. The March quarter was revised up slightly from 4.3% to 4.4%. The unemployment rate is now tracking at its highest level
Like most Aussies, I love sport. But this Olympics rubbish has gone way too far. What are we doing running third? Bloomie has crack at China today: This state-driven method to achieve international sporting victories comes with deep pockets. Medals cost money. China’s budget for sports this year stands at more than $1 billion. Compare that
Wall Street said it was foolproof investment because of AI demand and low inventories. If you believe that I have a bridge I will sell you. Copper is suddenly everywhere: Mining is booming: Processing is booming: Speculators are still long: Where did the copper shortage go? There never was one. Only a few pallets moved
Adding to its recent string of economic propaganda lies, Team Albo has released a new album of Greatest Lies: Let’s run through the lies being sung online. Students crushloaded: Wages destroyed: Rents skyrocket: Inflation madness: Tax cuts joke: $400 added to power bills: Education inflation: Albo’s Greatist Hits is a compendium of outrageous lies.
Last month, we learned that the militant CFMEU had used stand-over tactics and intimidation to win work on Victorian government construction contracts. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan were separately sent detailed evidence in 2022 that CFMEU officials were threatening extreme violence and unlawfully black-banning non-union-preferred firms from state and federally funded
Sydney-based housing developer Mark Bainey of Capio Property Group summarised Australia’s farcical ‘skilled’ visa system as follows: “The key thing holding back construction at the moment is the supply of skilled labour”. “We have a lot of unskilled labour but not enough skilled labour”. “Nobody wants to study a trade or be a tradie”. “The
Traditional Australian retailers are in a world of pain. Sales volumes have collapsed in the face of high interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis, with discretionary retailers hit hardest. The annual change in retail sales has been negative for the past five quarters. Outside of the pandemic, only four other quarters have seen negative yearly
The Market Ear on the latest stock internals. Fluid You know things are still “fluid” when VIX is at 29, up 4-5% on the day and still “lagging” the VVIX.. Refinitiv Still skewed The crowd remains long and in need of downside protection still. Skew (SDEX index) bouncing higher from already very well bid levels
Qingdao iron ore is at $97.51, down 1% this morning. Shanghai rebar futures and SGX both fell yesterday: Dalian fell as well: Coking coal tacked on a few points in a minor miracle: The news flow is bad. Chinese iron ore imports for July came in at 102.8mt, up 5.7% year on year however that
Wall Street is rolling over again despite a good start to the session with bond markets the culprit once more with some high yield auctions spooking the risk complex. A late swing to USD caused some extra unwanted volatility in currency markets as well, which all points to an interesting session here in Asia on