The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has slashed the official cash rate (OCR) by half (2.25%) since mid-2024: These rate cuts by the Reserve Bank have reduced mortgage borrowing costs dramatically, as illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro: Normally, such a sharp reduction in interest rates would stimulate activity, leading to a rebound
One of the worst fads of the energy transition has been the push from various state authorities to get households off gas and onto electricity. Tony Wood at the corrupt Grattan Institute began it. Various gullible and noxious pollies, especially in VIC, embraced it as a great distraction from Wood’s former employer and Grattan sponsor,
Victorians have experienced acute Stockholm Syndrome with respect to the state Labor government. Victoria’s nine-month lockdown during the Covid-19 outbreak was among the longest and most severe in the world. The state government’s incompetence in handling hotel quarantine and enforcement contributed to this situation. Victoria’s infrastructure projects have experienced massive cost overruns, and the government
DXY isn’t going away as Trump cancelled a Friday meeting with Tehran. Australian dollar fell but remains strong. CNY is supportive. JPY is about to become a problem again. Gold trying. Iranian oil lift. AI metals are in free fall. Miners don’t care. Jim Cramer is now recommending RIO. Look out below. EM toppy. Junk
Another uneasy night on risk markets with concerns mounting over the Iranian situation as talks collapse while Wall Street took another tumble on tech stock volatility. The USD came back against some of the majors, particularly Yen while a fall in commodities like copper and gold saw the Australian dollar lose ground to revert below
Following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision to lift the official cash rate (OCR) by 25 bps on Tuesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers was quick to place the blame on the private sector, rather than his own government’s policies. “The Board’s statement today does not mention government spending. It makes it very clear the pressure
Over the past several years, Australia’s real inflation-adjusted wages have experienced their largest decline in modern history. Between the June quarter of 2020 and the March quarter of 2023, Australian real wages declined by 7.4%, returning to levels not seen since the March quarter of 2009. Real wages have recovered somewhat since, rising by 1.1%
Asian share markets are in mixed mood after the poor showing on Wall Street overnight although some risk taking is occuring across other markets with Yen weakening while the Kiwi lifted despite a poor unemployment print. The Australian dollar is still lifting above the 70 cent level on the long expected RBA rate yesterday. Brent
29 of the 31 provinces on the Chinese mainland have released growth targets for 2026. Nineteen of the 29 provinces reduced their 2026 growth goals. This sets the stage for Beijing to follow suit and reduce the national real GDP growth objective from “around 5%” last year to “4.5-5.0%” for 2026. The structure of growth
Once mighty software is being devoured by AI. The problem is that when AI can be added to anything and everything, tailored to specific industries and even specific business needs, the broad-based software package with a big moat is history. Tech volatility is leading broader market volatility higher. There’s no panic but there’s no retreat,