Upon the arrival of the pandemic in Australia in early 2020, the consumer confidence of the nation’s households experienced a sharp decline and has remained turbulent. By mid-2021, consumer confidence within ANZ-Roy Morgan index had returned to pre-Covid levels. Then, with the 2021 round of lockdowns and pandemic-driven restrictions, it began to tumble again. While
I reported this week on Jobs & Skills Australia’s (JSA) latest study on the international education sector, which admitted that the primary motivation for international students to choose Australia is to obtain work rights and permanent residency. Nearly 70% of international higher education students reported migration as a key factor in their decision to study
The BHP dispute is capturing the headlines, but it’s the steel glut that is driving ferrous market pricing. Even after another accident at Simandou yesterday, costing three lives, the market could not find a bid. The problem is that there is far too much steel, so prices keep falling. This is the perverse fruit of
The Market Ear on a bull gone mad. Most shorted mania Most shorted needs a bigger chart soon. Note that we are in overbought territory, but RSI is actually slightly lower than what we saw during the latter part of September. Source: LSEG Workspace MOVE chilling Bond volatility remains “depressed”. Noteworthy is that VIX has
This week, we received data on dwelling approvals from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which showed that the Albanese government’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years (i.e., 240,000 dwellings a year) is falling badly behind. In the first 14 months of the National Housing Accord, 218,306 dwellings were approved, 61,694 (22%)
Most of the media’s attention has been on Labor’s First Home Guarantee scheme, which came into effect on Wednesday. Under this scheme, almost all first home buyers can purchase a home with only a 5% deposit, without requiring lenders’ mortgage insurance, as taxpayers will guarantee 15% of the mortgage. Lateral Economics estimated that the 5%
Inside beach, Portsea Victoria AUD/USD EUR/USD USD/JPY GBP/USD Gold WTI Brent Australia 200 US S&P 500 UK 100 Japan 225 few problems getting charts again today, sorry. will keep trying
The post Macro Afternoon: 2 October 2025 appeared first on MacroBusiness.
Since the ABS started publicly releasing its monthly CPI in late October 2022, it has been a source of controversy and debate. It has been an indicator that has been paid significant heed one month and then absolutely ignored the next, as it no longer produced a result in the desired direction. It has been
The Albanese government’s fantastical target of building 1.2 million dwellings over five years is centred on delivering a boom in high-rise towers. I have repeatedly warned that state and federal government plans to blanket our cities with high-rise apartments are unrealistic, would not improve Australian housing affordability, and would degrade liveability. The August dwelling approvals
In this week’s podcast, we are unpacking today’s stretched market valuations—why they’re really concentrated in just a handful of the largest stocks, why small and mid-sized companies may actually be trading below average, and how investors should think about growth versus price. Can’t make it to the live series? Catch up on the content via