The ferrous market is not strong. Data is all over the place. We’ve had strong Chinese credit, but much of it is debt swaps with only marginal growth impact. Goldman. March total social financing (TSF) flows and new RMB loans came in above market expectations, mainly due to strong expansion of short-term corporate loans. Government
Kevin You, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, published research on the record boom in international students and temporary migrants. Dr You noted that there were a record 111,740 net permanent and long-term arrivals into Australia in February 2025, a daily average of 3,991. “That’s approximately 3 arrivals a minute on a net
Steve Austin from ABC Radio Brisbane interviewed me about the Greens’ housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather’s claim that immigration does not negatively impact housing affordability. Chandler-Mather told Austin that targeting migrants was “scapegoating”: “We think that’s scapegoating a group that’s not responsible for the crisis. There’s a good study out now that demonstrates that international students
The Market Ear on the great flush. No one’s in Positioning is wrecked, volatility just snapped lower, and risk appetite has fallen off a cliff. But with buybacks set to return, vol-control exhaustion kicking in, and sentiment at extreme lows, the stage might be quietly set for a rebound no one’s ready for. Zooming out
DXY is at critical support. AUD is a bipolar maniac. Concrete boots are hanging in. Gold and oil came off. The copper market is wrecked. Mining bear market rock solid. EM bounce. Junk off the worst. Yields eased, doubtless on the Fed’s calming words Friday. Stocks firmed. Now what? DXY is unhinged from Treasuries. While
Risk sentiment is slowly lifting and stock volatility moving lower but all eyes must remain on global bond markets and the USD as the big shift is happening beyond the equity market headlines. The short covering rally on Wall Street could continue for a little longer but USD is still slowly losing its reserve currency
I have warned repeatedly that Australian housing affordability will not improve by blanketing our cities with high-rise apartments, as planned by state and federal governments. The reason is simple: it costs too much to build apartments. Therefore, they cannot be delivered at an affordable price to buyers. The exorbitant cost of apartment construction was highlighted
Finally a relatively non-volatile trading session today although the newsflow remains weird with more Trumpian two-steps around tariffs on Chinese goods, while all eyes remain on the canary in the mine – the bond markets. The USD is still slowly weakening as it loses its reserve currency status with almost all the majors including gold
An oft-repeated mantra from the Trump regime is that tariffs in Trump’s first term barely affected inflation. Which is true. But the inflation environment was very different. The latest inflation data was out at the end of last week, and while it may have beaten expectations, it is not the type of inflation numbers that
The Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs have inflicted pain on the Australian dollar. At the close of business Friday, the Australian dollar was trading at just under 62 US cents, up from its multi-year low of 59.75 cents. The trade-weighted index (TWI), which measures the value of the Australian dollar relative to its most important