Hi all, A quick note to offer guidance on the new website. As well as the layout changes that make it easier to access content for new readers, it comes with a dramatically improved sign-up and resubscription process, greatly enhanced speed, and a much better mobile experience (since 95% of traffic is now phone!). The
Leith and Damo Martin North and Tarric Brooker This woman makes plenty of valid points. It is about the US but in far too many ways it is about us too (H/T Skepticviewer) Stephen Fry Paul Krugman on declining trust in elites Robert Reich making a lot of sense but still missing some things Bernie
CoreLogic’s daily dwelling values index shows Sydney’s housing market is finishing 2024 in the red. Over the 28 days to Boxing Day 2024, Sydney dwelling values had fallen by 0.6%. As shown above, monthly dwelling values in Sydney began falling in early October, and the rate of decline has steepened ever since. The auction market
In this week’s Special Christmas edition of the podcast as Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer, Damien Klassen, is joined by Chief Strategist, David Llewellyn-Smith, to discuss his biggest concern for 2025 and the economic danger it presents. Can’t make it to the live series? Catch up on the content via Podcasts or our recorded Videos. Damien Klassen is Chief
The team at MacroBusiness thanks you for your support in 2024 and wishes you a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. We will be taking a brief hiatus over the Christmas and New Year period, with only sporadic posting, and will return on 2 January 2025. We look forward to keeping the
Earlier this month, Tony Webber from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries warned of a clear consumer shift from battery electric vehicles (EVs) toward hybrids. “The Australian experience with EVs is similar to many major markets overseas such as Europe, New Zealand and the USA”. “Car makers are responding to regulatory settings that mandate an
In 2013, Labor Resources Minister Gary Gray made the fateful decision to allow the Gladstone liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals to be built without the requirement to reserve gas for domestic users: “Let me say very clearly, a reservation policy could not lead to lower gas prices or more gas,” Gray said. “Calls for intervention
Australia and New Zealand are experiencing protracted recessions. However, New Zealand’s recession is far deeper than Australia’s, as illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro. New Zealand’s unemployment rate is also significantly higher than Australia’s. The differing outcomes between the two nations are explained by the exceptional growth in the non-market (government-funded) sector in
By Stephen Saunders Last Friday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers quietly let slip Australia’s fifth Population statement, in which he and the Treasury constitute public enemy No. 1. Treasury’s Intergenerational Report is Coalition chicanery, warmly embraced by Labor. As is Treasury’s Centre for Population and its Statement. This fifth edition offers nearly 100 pages of pseudo-science and
The past several years have seen Australia’s rental market plunge into crisis following the importation of nearly one million net overseas migrants in only two years. This deluge of migrants hit a supply-constrained market, worsening the housing shortage. The impact on the rental market has been brutal. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated in January 2022—four months before the federal election—that his government would run a lower immigration policy if elected: In The Australian, Albanese wrote that Australia had relied too long on temporary migrant workers rather than training locals, suggesting Labor would not follow the approach of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s
The final trading week is still looking a lot like Christmas with Wall Street continuing its Friday night bounceback on Friday while European stocks slid back as markets start to quieten down over the Xmas break. The latest US consumer confidence figures weren’t impressive but King Dollar fought back against the relatively mild fightback from
I have frequently maintained that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported $48 billion in education exports are inflated and vastly overstates the benefits of international students to the Australian economy. The ABS obtains this impressive export figure using “an average spend estimate from Tourism Research Australia … supplemented by the addition of total expenditure
Recall that the Orwellian Centre for Population has projected that Australia’s population would balloon by 4.1 million residents over the next 10 years—most of whom will live in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. This population expansion will see Sydney’s and Melbourne’s populations swell to around 6.5 million. Brisbane (3.3 million) and Perth (2.9 million) will
Asian stock markets are having solid sessions going into the Xmas break with local stocks finally seeing a solid bid as speculation around more Chinese stimulus measures grows. The USD is firming up again after pulling back on Friday night on the slightly cooler than expected PCE inflation but Euro is holding above the 1.04
Sydney and Melbourne dwelling values have ended 2025 deep in the red, dragging down prices nationally. The following chart illustrates that CoreLogic’s daily dwelling values index has recorded declines of 0.6% across Sydney and Melbourne over the past 28 days, pulling values at the 5-city aggregate level down by 0.2%. The value decline matches the
Australia is experiencing its longest-running per capita recession on record at seven consecutive quarters. This hasn’t stopped Treasurer Jim Chalmers from boasting that record public spending has saved the nation from recession. “It’s pretty clear that if we had taken a lot of the free advice we’ve been getting over the last 12 to 18
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Q3 national accounts revealed that real consumer spending had stalled despite households receiving Stage 3 personal income tax cuts. The result suggested that households had saved rather than spent the tax cuts, as evidenced by the increase in the savings rate. Higher frequency data on household spending showed that
Australia’s baby boomers have easily the highest rate of home ownership, which stands at around 80%. Most baby boomers also own their homes outright. For younger Australians, who have seen their homeownership rates collapse, the situation is completely different. Those that do enter the housing market have been left paying jumbo-sized mortgages as they forever
Last week’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) has downgraded forecast spirit excise collections by $1.7 billion over the four years to 2027-28 when compared to the May budget, while tobacco excise estimates were downgraded by $10.7 billion: “Total excise and customs duty receipts have been revised down by $3.3 billion in 2024–25 and $13.3
Below are CBA’s and Westpac’s November CPI Previews. Both are predicting a trimmed mean inflation to undershoot the RBA’s expectations. Westpac: Westpac’s near-cast for the November Monthly CPI Indicator is 0.4% in the month to be up 2.2% in the year. Post the November Monthly CPI Indicator, not only will we have two thirds of
Wall Street bounced back on Friday night following its worst one day performance for the calendar year lifting 1% across the board on the back of some cooling inflation data while European stocks slid back amid the volatility going into the year end as markets start to quieten down over the Xmas break. King Dollar
New data from the Department of Education shows that international student enrolments surpassed one million for the first time in the year to September 2024. As illustrated below, there were a record 1,018,799 enrolments in the year to September 2024, up 128,447 from the prior year. The following table shows that the enrolment surge was
The Australian Treasury’s Orwellian Centre for Population released its 2024 Population Statement, which forecast that ongoing high immigration will add 4.1 million residents over the next 10 years—most of whom will live in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. “Australia’s population is projected to grow from 27.1 million people in March 2024 to 31.3 million people
International Reading: Elon Musk, Amazon, and AT&T are demanding a return to office. But there aren’t enough desks – Fortune What debt ceiling? “Spend, Spend, Spend goes the Trumpie – CBS News Government Shutdown Grows Closer as Trump Tells G.O.P. to Kill Spending Deal – NY Times Obscene Prices, Declining Quality: Luxury Is in a
Asian stock markets are having staid sessions going into the end of the trading week with local stocks still selling off. The USD remains King against everything with the BOE hold as expectations for tonight’s PCE inflation print ramp up. The Kiwi and the Australian dollar remain under the pump as the Pacific Peso almost
