The Australia Insitute’s Richard Denniss hit the nail on the head in his speech to the National Press Club: “The Australian Government collects more money from HECS than it does from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. “Thank you, children. You’re the backbone of our economy, not the gas industry.” Executive Director Richard Denniss at @PressClubAust@RDNS_TAI
Australia has received an overall score of 75 out of 100 in Transparency International’s annual corruption perceptions index, in line with the nation’s rating in 2023. Australia ranks 14th in the list of 180 countries, which are rated on their perceived levels of public sector corruption. Transparency International’s CEO Clancy Moore says “Australia can become
Wednesday’s CPI inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that annual rental growth slowed in the December quarter to This slowdown in growth was artificial, moderated by increases in Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA), as shown by the below chart from Justin Fabo at Antipodean Macro: Had the CRA not been implemented, the
Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) is becoming a national embarrassment. The NBN cost more than $50 billion to build, its CEO Stephen Rue is paid $3 million a year, and Australians pay some of the highest monthly fixed-line broadband charges in the world. According to a Point Topic assessment, Australia had the least affordable entry-level
It’s been burning in the background unabated: New York Community Bancorp, one of the winners as regional lenders struggled and collapsed last year, plunged a record 46% as investors worried it’s now the harbinger of the industry’s next source of pain: commercial real estate. The firm, which acquired part of Signature Bank last year, stockpiled
Overnight saw expectations of a March rate cut by the US Federal Reserve sunder bond and stock markets with Wall Street losing nearly 1% and other risk markets also falling. Fed Chair Powell after the latest FOMC meeting said a cut was “unlikely”, keeping currency markets in a volatile mood with the USD initially down
Australia’s worst modern treasurer stuck his foot in his mouth again yesterday: Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it’s encouraging that annual inflation has moderated to a two-year low, but the fight is not over as the rate remains higher than the Reserve Bank’s target range. Wrong. The job is done and the central bank needs to
The PMIs were shite: The steel PMI too: The stocks save is gone inside a week with new lows across equities: Yields are tumbling: Mortgage rates too: But having no effect: It is a structural adjustment from which there is no recovery. Iron ore will crack eventually:
It is impressive already. But can get impressiver. The Market Ear pulls out the bubble ruler. Many different shades of overshoot That stocks lead and actually overshoot various fundamental macro indicators in a bull market is nothing new. To observe this provides neither great market insight nor any tool for money making opportunities. Nevertheless, we
DXY is sideways: AUD did better as JPY fell: Brent puked: Dirt meh: Miners meh: EM meh: Junk meh: Yields fell: Stocks corrected on Google and the Fed: The Fed pushed back on rate cuts: “The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence