Iron ore prices came off again yesterday, but the jaws remain wide. We should be at $90 in a rational market. CISA data for the first ten days of the year was 1.997mt which is mediocre but OK. What is worse is that steel inventories at CISA mills are 20% above last year’s levels and
When the Albanese government was returned to power at the May 2025 federal election, it achieved the strongest result for a first-term government returning to the ballot box since at least World War 2. Since the Second World War, Australia’s first-term governments had always lost seats in their first return to face the electorate, losing
You could be forgiven for concluding that the Michael Pettis moment has arrived in China. It has stopped building. The investment in fixed assets is currently experiencing an unprecedented decline. Food, transport and energy are the only positives. Sure, China cooked the books to meet its 5% GDP target, but the GDP deflator is severely
With Wall Street closed for a long weekend holiday most risk markets sold off overnight as the blackmail threats on Europe from the Trump regime with counter threats of tearing up the Trump-induced 2025 trade deal heightened concerns of a wider transatlantic trade war. European shares slumped while the USD fell back after firming on
There’s nothing quite like the spectacle of the most hated group of people in Australia banning hate! Politicians! Anthony Albanese’s bill to combat antisemitism will pass parliament in coming days despite an 11th-hour hurdle thrown up by opposition MPs harbouring concerns over proposed new powers that would allow the government to proscribe and ban “hate groups”. Despite
According to Cotality, Australia’s dwelling value-to-income ratio was tracking at a record high of 8.2 in the September quarter of 2025. Despite three 25-bp interest rate decreases from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the percentage of median family income required to service a new mortgage on a median-priced home was still historically high, at
Wall Street futures fell sharply alongside the USD (and Bitcoin) while gold and undollars rose on the weekend tariff orders from the Trump regime, with the Europeans playing hardball. Asian share markets are all in the red given the risk off mood with the latest Chinese economic figures (and more importantly – population figures –
TME with the details. That was the soft launch They told us AI was a chatbot. A productivity toy. A nicer autocomplete. That was the soft launch. In its latest Tech Predictions, CB Insights argues that AI’s next phase is no longer digital, but physical. Models are moving into machines, vehicles, warehouses, and defense systems,
The first of two current shipments from Simndou has arrived in China. There are no reports of further January shipments. Operations are limited by the return of 18 locomotives to China, which were supposed instead to be made by Wabtec (Westinghouse) or in the US. Another 37 locomotives are scheduled for delivery by March, and
With the release of the latest gross operating company profit data from the ABS, it was revealed that they were flat in nominal terms for the quarter, despite analysts expecting a 1.5% quarter-over-quarter rise. This result leaves the nation’s gross operating company profits in an undesirable position when it comes to contributing to GDP, up