Mike Burgess is being an ass: China’s leading spy agency has been revealed as the organisation behind the sustained targeting of Australians detailed by the nation’s spy chief in his annual threat assessment. In an exclusive interview with this masthead and 60 Minutes, ASIO Director General Mike Burgess has separately hit back at calls for
Westpac’s credit card index is a decent leading indicator for consumption. The Westpac Card Tracker Index* has softened slightly over the second half of February, easing to 127.8 over the week ended February 24 from 128.5 in the second week of the month. That is a firmer level compared to the weakness seen through Nov-Jan, which averaged
The IEA released its annual CO2 data for 2023 last Friday. The news is not all bad with some tailing off in the trend: However, DM efforts are not yet offsetting EM surges, most notably in China: The landscape of emissions continues to change. China’s total CO2 emissions exceeded those of the advanced economies combined
On Friday night, Dalian futures tumbled to the recent lows: It had good reasons with Chinese PMIs weak: In February , the manufacturing purchasing managers index ( PMI ) was 49.1% , down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The new orders index was 49.0% , the same as last month and still below
CBA’s head of Australian economics, Gareth Aird, published a note examining the strong cyclical rise in both house prices and rents. Aird notes that the uplift in prices is highly unusual given the aggressive monetary tightening from the RBA, which has dramatically reduced borrowing capacity. “Dwelling prices have now risen by 10.7% since their cyclical
In his 2019 book. The Technology Trap: Capital, Labour and Power in the Age of Automation, Carl Benedikt Frey covers the history of the Industrial Revolution and how it affected society: Frey’s argument rests on the distinction between labour-enabling technologies and labour-replacing technologies. As the names suggest, labour-enabling technologies complement workers, boosting productivity and opening
CoreLogic has released its preliminary auction results for the weekend, which reported a national capital city clearance rate of 71.8%, down from 73.5% last week (revised down to 68.2% once finalised): With an average downwards revision of -5.9% so far this year, CoreLogic expects the final clearance rate to come in around 65-66%. The preliminary
DXY eased last night: AUD bounced: North Asia meh: Brent looks like it is coiling: Dirt yawn: Miners yawn: EM yawn: Junk meh: Yields dumped: Stocks flew: The ISM was perfectly weak: “The Manufacturing PMI® registered 47.8 percent in February, down 1.3 percentage points from the 49.1 percent recorded in January. The overall economy continued
By Gareth Aird, head of Australian economics at CBA: Key Points: We expect Q4 23 real GDP increased by a small 0.2%/qtr, which would take the annual rate to 1.4%. Household consumption is forecast to have edged higher in the December quarter. Business investment, public demand and net exports are anticipated to contribute to quarterly
International Reads: Abortions now cost over $450, more than double the price before Roe was overturned, per a reproductive care nonprofit director – Business Insider US spends billions on roads rather than public transport in ‘climate time bomb’ – The Guardian The Starbucks Workers’ Union Has Finally Broken Through – Jacobin Panera Bread exempt from