A poll put out by Resolve earlier this month asked respondents to say if they had a positive, neutral, or negative opinion of a list of federal politicians if they had heard of them. What it found was that compared with December last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had seen his standing improve from -17
The latest rental data from Cotality suggests that Australia’s rental market has tightened. Rental vacancy rates nationally fell to a new record low of 1.5% in October, down from 2.0% 12 months prior. The number of homes listed for rent across the combined capital cities has fallen to its lowest level on record for an
Another mixed day for Asian stock markets without a clear lead from Wall Street overnight as political machinations and a few central bank speeches within the region. The USD was largely unchanged although some commodity currencies moved higher while gold and the Australian dollar remained steady after holding on to their post weekend gap gains.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has slashed the official cash rate by 300 bps to 2.5%. Given New Zealand’s weak economy, which last week saw unemployment and underemployment increase to their highest rate since the pandemic peak, expectations are that the Reserve Bank will deliver additional rate relief heading into 2026. As illustrated below
JPM on the AI data centre rollout. It is large. The global data center and AI build-out will be an extraordinary and sustained capital markets event. Building out global data center and AI infrastructure and related power supplies could cost over $5 trillion in our view, with at least one consultant calling for $7 trillion
Sales in lower-tier Chinese cities are not going well. At the aggregate level, a hopeful year has turned bust. Inventory isn’t going anywhere. Yet completions remain stable. This has to fall, or the market will never adjust. Only forever to go.
The ABS updated its biannual series on life expectancy yesterday, and, according to the numbers, you will now, on average, die a few months earlier than before Albo’s election win. We should probably acknowledge some role for COVID, given that the dip has been a global phenomenon. We can ship that home to Albo’s mates
In the classic version of Britain’s Top Gear, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, there was a sometimes-used motto for their little crew: “Ambitious but rubbish.” From multiple rounds of sinking home made amphibious cars to attempting to launch a Reliant Robin into space, the trio lived up to their motto, often
The State of Victoria, already drowning in debt and facing further credit rating downgrades, last month passed legislation to establish a First Peoples’ Assembly, providing the indigenous community with significant powers that can greatly increase the cost and difficulty of managing the state. The First Peoples’ Assembly powers are buried in 200-plus pages of complex
As I keep saying, the household spending recovery is largely a mirage. The CommBank Household Spending Insights (HSI) Index increased by 0.6% in October, mirroring September’s increase and representing the thirteenth consecutive month of growth for Australian households. 11 out of 12 categories saw an increase in spending, with Transport (+1.2%), Motor Vehicle (1.0%), and