DXY faded Friday night. AUD bounced. CNY too. Oil and gold sideways. AI metals stalled. Big miners trying. EM ouch. Junk OK. Yield eased. Stocks dump and pump. It’s all about the government shutdown now. Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary, is on the hustings saying growth might halve in Q4 and prices fall away.
No jobs report for you! So that’s two months of non-existent unemployment data from the US due to the Republicans shutting down their own government so markets are unable to navigate or pivot on the non-farm payroll data and instead wonder at what is going on “under the hood” of the world’s largest economy (for
The Albanese government’s fantastical target of building 1.2 million dwellings over five years, or 240,000 homes a year, is based on delivering another boom in high-rise apartment towers, even greater than the one experienced between 2015 and 2020. To meet the federal government’s lofty housing construction target, Australia would need to build more homes than
The housing market appears to have lost some momentum due to the recent inflation shock and expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will keep interest rates on hold for the foreseeable future. Cotality’s daily dwelling values index continues to show the strongest growth in over two years, measured on a rolling 28-day basis:
Aussie punters are drooling with anticipation of a new housing boom. Victoria disease is preventing madness in the South East, but elsewhere it is all greed. Plenty of room to rise before any nerves kick in. The young and abused have been co-opted. The Oct survey detail points to another factor in the mix
By Harry Ottley, economist at CBA: The RBA left the cash rate on hold at 3.60% as widely expected.The post-meeting communication was not quite as hawkish as we had expected. The data flow was mixed with home price rises accelerating and building approvals improving but household spending looking a touch softer than expected. Offshore, soft
The ferrous complex is buckling. Steel output cuts are so far insufficient to lift steel prices. Iron must fall much further if steel mill margins are to be restored. Weekly data from consultancy firm Mysteel showed that fewer than 40% of the 247 surveyed steel mills were profitable, a level last seen in October 2024.
International Reading: Tesla shareholders approve Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package – CNN ‘As Ugly and Cruel As It Gets’: Trump Fights Order to Fully Fund November SNAP Benefits – Common Dreams The US national debt has just passed $38 trillion — and economists say they might never recover – News.com Tariff refunds are now
Asian equities are not doing well as markets start agitate over AI amid tonight’s looming US jobs report with the recent strength in the USD about to be tested. Continued volatility over trade wars amid the challenge to the Trump regime’s tariffs in the US Supreme Court are not helping either. The Australian dollar remains
When the Luxon government came to power in late 2023, it came with a promise to reinstate negative gearing as it previously was and reduce the holding period required for an investment property to be sold tax-free. Under the Ardern government, the duration an investor was required to hold a property for the gains to