The ferrous complex continues typical seasonal trading. This is all rather silly. Bloomberg. Iron ore gained after a Chinese consultancy said several steel mills had been told by authorities they will need to temporarily halt production later this month due to air pollution concerns.\ I know the market likes to be contrarian, but steel cuts
In the world of United States economics, it has been said that “the construction cycle is the economic cycle”. Looking at the data, there is certainly a degree of truth to that, with the number of homes under construction peaking and then falling significantly prior to 4 of the last 6 non-pandemic-related recessions. Perhaps the
America is well prepared for the AI shock that is underway in its entry-level positions. It has sensibly reduced immigration to zero, ensuring that local youth are not competing with cheap foreign labour. Even so, there is increasing evidence that AI is moving faster than the economy can keep up. A few days ago, I
Melbourne’s housing market has experienced a long period of price stagnation compared with the other major capital cities. According to PropTrack, Melbourne’s median dwelling values rose by only 19.2% in the five years to July, compared with an average increase across the combined capital cities of 45.5%. Melbourne’s median dwelling value in July 2025 was
DXY is back! AUD is not. Lead boots plod on. Gold bashed. Metals too. Big bear intact. EM shaky. Junk fine. The curve steepened. Stocks sold. At issue is the US CPI tomorrow. Goldman. Our analysis implies that tariff effects have boosted the core PCE price level by0.20% so far. We expect another 0.16% impact
Asian share markets are having a much better start to the trading week although Japanese markets are closed for yet another holiday as Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are seeing big bids. Yen was relatively steady against USD as expected while Euro is climbing again as the Australian dollar holds firm above the 65 cent
Over the last year in particular, the impact of international students on the nation’s rental market has sparked significant controversy. The debate has prompted a wide range of papers and reports on the issue, with the quality varying dramatically. In the July Reserve Bank bulletin, the denizens of Martin Place shared their perspective on the
Government-funded jobs have artificially fueled Australia’s jobs boom over the past two years. As illustrated below by Alex Joiner from IFM Investors, around 80% of jobs created over the past two years have been in the non-market sector, which is reliant on government funding. The non-market sector generated around 658,000 jobs between Q1 2023 and
Last week, Statistics New Zealand reported that the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 5.2% in Q2 2025, the highest rate since Q4 2016. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, New Zealand’s underemployment rate also surged, suggesting significant surplus capacity in the labour market. The rise in New Zealand’s labour underutilisation rate comes
Australia currently has the highest share of temporary migrants and international students as a percentage of our population in the advanced world. The latest temporary visa data from the Department of Home Affairs shows that there were a record 2,460,000 temporary migrants in Australia (excluding visitors) in Q2 2025. This figure was up a whopping