The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been notoriously poor at forecasting Australian wage growth. For the past 15 years, the RBA’s Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP) has consistently forecast higher wage growth than realised. The RBA looks to be making the same mistakes, with Australian wage growth now falling despite Australia’s low unemployment rate
Every time I read one of these articles, the Grattan Institute appears as the independent voice of reason. SMH. As the risk of shortfalls edges closer, state and federal energy ministers are becoming increasingly worried that talks between LNG terminal developers and prospective customers appear deadlocked, with neither party able to agree on price and
Goldman with the argument. USD: Diminished, not finished. We downgraded our Dollar forecasts last week but still expect some Dollar strength from current levels. …we think the market has rapidly repriced the shift in the growth outlook, and ran ahead of the forecast changes our teams have made for 2025. In the case of the
Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please.
I’m now using Substack as a blogging platform, and for my monthly email newsletter. For the moment, I’ll post both at this blog and on Substack. You can also follow me on Mastodon here.
Former Treasury Secretary Dr Martin Parkinson, who led the federal government’s 2023 Migration Review, admitted that Australia’s mass immigration policy has failed to provide the nation with the skills it needs and has contributed to poor productivity growth. As part of a campaign entitled Activate Australia’s Skills, Dr Parkinson called for a nationally cohesive approach
The great coal crash continues. Thermal coal has broken $100 and continues to fall. Coking coal is the mirror image. I see no end in sight to either. The less gloomy news is the price falls are more or less on track for the budget. Key commodity prices are assumed to decline from elevated levels
The post Coalamity continues appeared first on MacroBusiness.
In late 2023, newly appointed Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan ignored expert advice and signed the tunnelling contract to build the first stage of the $200 billion Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). “We are full steam ahead with the Suburban Rail Loop – by 2026, tunnel boring machines will be in the ground and Victorians will be
AT WHICH POINT OF TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION DOES THE NEEDS TO HAVE GREATER ORGANISATION OF SOCIETIES BEYOND SIMPLE MUTUAL AID?
IS THERE A NEED TO MAKE PROFITS IN ORDER TO EVOLVE TO THE NEXT STEP OF WHAT WE WANT, BEYOND WHAT WE NEED? DO WE NEED WARS?
The Market Ear with a pearler. A key risk to the market Foreigners hold a record amount of US stocks. And they have just started selling. Deutsche Bank says that there could easily be one trillion dollars of foreign selling. This is way bigger than the corporate demand (=the biggest buyer) estimated this year. Is
The post Who’s left to sell America? Everybody appeared first on MacroBusiness.
Slightly better and going nowhere fast. Flash Australia PMI Composite Output Index(1): 51.3 (Feb: 50.6). 7-month high. Flash Australia Services PMI Business Activity Index(2): 51.2 (Feb: 50.8). 2-month high. Flash Australia Manufacturing Output Index(3): 51.9 (Feb: 49.7). 29-month high. Flash Australia Manufacturing PMI(4): 52.6 (Feb: 50.4). 29-month high. There’s enough for Warren Hogan to have
The iron ore jaws are wide. Either rebar must rise or iron ore fall. Not much hope of the former! Steel demand sucks. Steel supply is better this week but still sucks. May is not a good period for iron ore, and March has been unseasonably weak already. Mwahaha.
The post Iron ore jaws yawn wider appeared first on MacroBusiness.
Oh dear. The Australian. Jim Chalmers will extend energy bill rebates for another six months in Tuesday’s budget, adding an extra $1.8bn to the pre-election spending splurge with an aim of setting up a cost-of-living fight with Peter Dutton. Despite energy bills being set to increase by up to 9 per cent next financial year,
The post Labor embraces Gasmageddon appeared first on MacroBusiness.