Blogotariat

What we are seeing in many markets today is exactly what I expected to see when I made my 40 cents AUD call a few years ago. American exceptionalism is alive in the AI bubble but severely crimped by anti-Trumpian capital flows. The Chinese economy is slowly dying, but propped up as it pours money

The post Australian dollar topped as iron ore enters end game appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Man, I don’t know where I am this week. That holiday on Monday was always going to put the zap on my head, but I think I made it much worse by working through the weekend. Both Jane and I were on deadline, so we just pulled normal workdays on Saturday and Sunday, and then had Monday off, which was nice.

Then Tuesday, I caught up with Nick Pringle and his partner, Melissa, who I know from my time in publishing in Sydney. They were having a little break in Brisbane, so they popped out to my part of the world to have a coffee and a couple of toasted sangas. That was nice.

The ACT government's early push to 100 pct renewables is looking like the smartest policy of all - with one wind farm paying consumers $50/MWh in the last quarter.

Reposit Power boss Dean Spaccavento says battery rebate scheme is “excellent in its scope,” but weak regulation and vague technical standards, mean only a few batteries will help stabilise the grid.

South Australia unveils auction for 700 MW of long duration capacity as it seeks to firm up its grid as it reaches 100 pct net renewables and beyond.

New Zealand’s economy is in a deep hole. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, real GDP contracted sharply in the June quarter, drastically underperforming the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s forecast: The number of filled jobs in New Zealand has also contracted sharply: As a result, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday chose

The post Reserve Bank panics, cuts rates by 0.5% appeared first on MacroBusiness.

One of the often repeated tropes of social media discourse or backyard BBQ political debates is the idea that the election victories that Labor has won in Victoria and federally are indicative of the public holding a high level of support for their leadership. Such an assumption is not a new phenomenon. This perspective has

The post Looking at politics all wrong appeared first on MacroBusiness.

There is a commonly held economic narrative that Indian demand for commodities will compensate for the reduction in Chinese demand as China’s economy slows and rebalances toward a consumer-focused model. The reality of this narrative is perhaps best summed up by the chart below from Visual Capitalist, which shows that China produced more steel in

The post India cannot rescue Australia from itself appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has consistently flagged high loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) mortgage lending as a risk area. For example, in December 2014, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) released guidance stating that “ADIs should not undertake large volumes of, or increase their share of, higher-risk lending. This included lending at very high LVRs”:

From the Market Ear: Losing momentum? How bullish is bullish? SPX is basically trading at the same levels we traded at two weeks ago. Let’s see how this plays out, but SPX is losing momentum. Highs aren’t pushing higher as they should. First support is the trend line, followed by the 21 day at 6700

The post Bulls keep charging as momentum fades appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Rising inequality and declining living standards have posed a threat to democracy in several democracies, but so far not in Australia. However, the increasing inequality of wealth, driven by housing becoming unaffordable without rich parents, is a threat.

Michael Keating

Inequality and the future of democracy