The post-COVID burst in Aussie business investment is over. Plans for the next year have now flatlined. Driven largely by fading services investment. Growth gone. Given that year-on-year growth in plans tends to be rounded down as the year progresses, this does not bode well for employment. The BRA expect capex growth to accelerate to
Last week’s 0.25% interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has immediately impacted the housing market, with Cotality last week recording the highest capital city final auction clearance rate since July last year at 65.1%. Sydney’s final clearance rate rose to 67.3% last week, which was the best result since mid-August last
The ferrous complex continues to fade away with steel in the lead. CISA output is now down year on year. The inevitable looms. Reuters. Also, speculation of incoming capacity limits were backed by Baosteel stating that total mainland production could fall by 50 million tons this year. There is no spur to a stronger
Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry’s recent interview with Joe Walker explained how the structural decline in capital deepening has driven the decline in Australia’s productivity growth: [Capital deepening] makes each hour worked more productive, right?.. And capital deepening is obviously driven by having a rate of national investment that is matched to the rate of workforce
In a hopeful turn of events, the Albanese government is considering imposing an East Coast gas reservation policy. Via the AFR: The Albanese government is likely to consider developing an east coast gas reservation as part of a sweeping review of the country’s energy system. Energy industry sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said
Overnight saw the Trump regime’s tariffs put back in place on appeal, causing more indecision and uncertainty in risk markets coupled with a series of bad domestic economic news for the USA. Corporate profits are down in their fastest drop in over 5 years while GDP estimates are for at least a 0.2% contraction as
Partial data received so far suggest that Australia’s economy will post only modest growth in Q1 2025 and is likely to show a negative per capita GDP print. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Household Spending Indicator (MHSI) recorded zero growth in volume terms in Q1 2025. The latest ABS labour force release suggested that
The Productivity Commission (PC) released a research report entitled “Productivity before and after COVID-19”, which claims that Australia experienced a ‘productivity bubble’ during the pandemic, in which measured labour productivity rose to a record high between January 2020 and March 2022 before returning to pre-pandemic levels in June 2023. The PC claims that Australia is
The big news of the day is a possible reversal of ALL of the Trump regime’s tariffs (except steel/aluminium) due to a court order, although it remains to be seen if Don Taco will actually abide by the legal decision. This has seen a big relief rally across all risk markets and with the USD
Deutsche has an interesting breakdown of some of the world’s largest trade surpluses and where the money ends up. Yesterday Japan’s Ministry of Finance reported that Japan had lost its top spot as the world’s largest creditor nation to Germany, for the first time since 1991. This made some headlines in Germany, and was hardly