Politicians, economists, the media, and think tanks in Australia continue to argue that a supply shortage has caused the housing crisis. They argue that the situation would be resolved if Australia built more homes. One of the ways put forward to build more homes is to import more migrant labour into the construction sector: The following
Behold the Chicken Chalmers economy via Westpac. The Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index dipped 0.5% to 84.6 in September from 85.0 in August. The pessimism that has dominated for over two years now is still showing no real signs of lifting. However, the focus does look to be shifting. While cost-of-living pressures are becoming a
The Market Ear with the lastest. Choppy After the August gyrations, equity positioning is chopping modestly above average. DB Discretionary and systematic positioning Discretionary positioning – back in the range which prevailed in the first half of this year. Systematic positioning – fallen steeply and is only slightly above neutral. DB Positioning not a problem
Australian Industry Group (AiG) CEO Innes Willox has broken rank from the other business lobbies and rejected the notion that international students are the key to Australia’s future. AiG has come out in support of the federal government’s cap on international students. Willox argues that the focus of universities should be on educating Australians and
In a report earlier this year, former ACCC chairman Allan Fels and transport expert David Cousins bemoaned Transurban’s gouging of Sydney motorists. The report also urged the NSW government to regain control of the state’s toll roads. Transurban controls 11 of NSW’s 13 toll roads, each negotiated under a distinct contract and with varying price
Why everyone wants to catch the iron ore falling knife is beyond my understanding. SHFE is still falling: But check out those tails on Mad Dalian. It’s Pavlovian: Coking coal less stupid: Meanwhile, actual signals are going from terrible to disastrous. CISA steel output is now below 2018 for late August: Inventory did tumble 10%
Risk markets bounced back overnight in the absence of further good but not bad enough news following the US jobs print on Friday that saw Wall Street sink nearly 2% across the board. European markets also came back to strength but on both sides of the Atlantic it doesn’t yet look convincing as the USD
Why does Australia hate children so much? Children will be blocked from social media under sweeping national plans to shield young people from online harm by mandating strict age barriers in federal law and punishing tech giants that break the rules. Australia will move before the next election to a national regime to force tech
DXY has bounced off big support: AUD bashed back into place: North Asia too: Oil is fighting for its life: Metals meh: Mining meh: EM nasty: Junk still bullish: Yields falling, falling, falling, but into what? Stocks worried: It was a typical Monday rally on not much more. Goldman is rightly skeptical of more DXY
Australia’s federal and state governments hope to meet the National Cabinet’s 1.2 million housing target by demolishing middle-ring suburbs and building high-rise apartments. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) reported decline in high-density approvals has dealt their ambition a serious blow. As illustrated in the following chart, annual unit & apartment approvals across Australia crashed