The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has slashed the official cash rate by 300 bps to 2.5%. Given New Zealand’s weak economy, which last week saw unemployment and underemployment increase to their highest rate since the pandemic peak, expectations are that the Reserve Bank will deliver additional rate relief heading into 2026. As illustrated below
JPM on the AI data centre rollout. It is large. The global data center and AI build-out will be an extraordinary and sustained capital markets event. Building out global data center and AI infrastructure and related power supplies could cost over $5 trillion in our view, with at least one consultant calling for $7 trillion
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Sales in lower-tier Chinese cities are not going well. At the aggregate level, a hopeful year has turned bust. Inventory isn’t going anywhere. Yet completions remain stable. This has to fall, or the market will never adjust. Only forever to go.
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The ABS updated its biannual series on life expectancy yesterday, and, according to the numbers, you will now, on average, die a few months earlier than before Albo’s election win. We should probably acknowledge some role for COVID, given that the dip has been a global phenomenon. We can ship that home to Albo’s mates
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In the classic version of Britain’s Top Gear, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, there was a sometimes-used motto for their little crew: “Ambitious but rubbish.” From multiple rounds of sinking home made amphibious cars to attempting to launch a Reliant Robin into space, the trio lived up to their motto, often
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The State of Victoria, already drowning in debt and facing further credit rating downgrades, last month passed legislation to establish a First Peoples’ Assembly, providing the indigenous community with significant powers that can greatly increase the cost and difficulty of managing the state. The First Peoples’ Assembly powers are buried in 200-plus pages of complex
The European Commission plans to establish a new intelligence division directly under President Ursula von der Leyen, even as the move faces resistance from the EU’s existing spy apparatus, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
As I keep saying, the household spending recovery is largely a mirage. The CommBank Household Spending Insights (HSI) Index increased by 0.6% in October, mirroring September’s increase and representing the thirteenth consecutive month of growth for Australian households. 11 out of 12 categories saw an increase in spending, with Transport (+1.2%), Motor Vehicle (1.0%), and
The ferrous complex remains paralysed by an unsustainable iron ore price. It appears the inaugural cargo has departed the Pilbara killer with great fanfare, though it is unclear. The President of the Republic of Guinea today joined project partners WCS, Baowu, Chinalco and Rio Tinto in a ceremony at the port in Forécariah prefecture to
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