Canada experienced an unprecedented immigration boom after the pandemic, which caused a record housing shortage. As a result, Canada’s rental vacancy rate fell to a record low and rental inflation soared, delivering the worst rental crisis in living memory. The following chart from the National Bank of Canada estimates that the nation’s shortage of rental
As the bombs, missiles and threats are thrown around the Middle East like kids in a playground, risk markets are relatively stable following the entry of the US into the Israel-Iran war. The USD is gaining more strength against most of the undollars with the Australian dollar losing ground to head back to the 64
Pru Goward tries to make sense of the world. The collection cost associated with taxation is but one example of the impost of government regulation on productivity. The enormous number of public servants devoted to extracting every possible cent from economic growth is bloated by private armies of accountants and tax lawyers employed to ensure compliance
Victoria’s net debt was only $22.3 billion when the Labor government delivered its inaugural state budget in 2015. According to budget projections, it will reach $194 billion by 2028–29, up from $155.5 billion currently. Victorian net debt per capita was less than $3,600 in Labor’s first budget. Since then, it has surged to $21,900, with
Many argue that iron ore is cheap. But above $90, it is still very expensive. That is the tell on why you should not buy miners now, even though they appear cheap on NTM and dividends. The reason is, the market is yet to discount the entrance of Simandou, which is actually going better than
The Australian has a consistent viewpoint on the use of gas that is clearly destructive to the Australian economy (and, therefore, itself). It is pro-gas, but it very rarely argues in favour of policies like domestic reservation, even when they are promoted by the Coalition. To some extent, this is probably ideological. The Murdoch Press
The Market Ear with the charts. Already bombed out This email is just a reminder that sentiment and positioning metrics were already pretty depressed going into this weekend. From hedge funds to quants, longs are light which should leave less room for an unwind panic. Here are a couple of our favorite charts. Just average
Australia’s recent productivity growth has been among the worst in the advanced world, as illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro. This month, federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched a productivity summit aimed at pulling the nation out of its funk that has seen per capita growth and living standards decline. The Guardian’s economics editor,
Throughout last year, CBA published data showing that older Australians had increased their spending significantly above inflation, whereas younger Australians had cut back hard on spending. For example, in the year to Q3 2024, Australians aged 70-plus increased their spending on essential categories by 7.4% and spending on discretionary categories by 8.0%. Both were well
DXY fell Friday, but WWIII should be enough to restore it this morning. AUD is bunkering. We’ll see a nice oil pop this morning. I say short it. MAGA ain’t pleased. Metals grind on. The mining bear market is huge and only just begun. EM meh. A safe haven bod for Treasuries. Stocks only go