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
By Lucinda Jerogin, Associate Economist at CBA: It was a quiet week in Australia with a dearth of data releases. News offshore was dominated by trade headlines as US-China tensions flared and subsequently cooled. The US Government shut down continued. Next week locally all eyes will be on the all-important quarterly CPI ahead of the
DXY is not going away. AUD is at the top of its recent range. CNY has given up the ghost. Gold is still vumnerable in my book. AI metals to the moon. Rio is the chosen one. EM breaking higher. Junk is back at the core but not the periphery. Yields stalled on oil. Stocks
The Albanese government launched its 5% deposit scheme for first-home buyers at the start of the month. The First Home Guarantee scheme allows an uncapped number of first-home buyers to purchase a home using only a 5% deposit, provided they do not exceed the generous price caps illustrated in the following table. For every home
International Reading: The Mother of All Corruption: Is $300 Million the Largest Bribe In Human History ?: White House releases donor list for Trump ballroom amid East Wing demolition – The Hill White House ballroom update: Trump raises price by $100 million – News Week Beyond Meat is falling back to earth after rallying 1,300%
Risk markets are again pivoting on more tantrums from the Oval Office as the Trump regime lashes out at Canada and Venezuela via the usual online 12-year old boy tantrums from the Mango Mussolini. Asian share markets brushed off the histrionics and are seeing strong bids to finish the trading week but all eyes will
Domain has published its home price figures for the September quarter, which show that the median house price in Sydney reached a record high of $1,751,728 following a 6.3% annual increase. Sydney units also increased to a record high of $840,422 following a softer 2.7% annual increase. As shown in the table below from Domain,
As we know, the RBA is intellectually bankrupt. It refuses point-blank to ever mention immigration as a macro input, making it impossible to forecast wage growth and inflation. This has now reached such a point of such absurdity that a new regime RBA, that was ushered in for precisely the failure described above, has become
By Stephen Saunders As the Labor-Liberal uni-party institutionalises mass migration and fake net zero, the March for Australia protests continue. After October 19, the next one is Australia Day. In Australia, the distinction between the “left” and “right” wings is less and less useful. It’s theatre. The more useful distinction is the top 1-20% versus
The Market Ear has more. The “healthy” reset 1. Gold has pulled back into key support at $3,944–4,000, likely forming the base of a new consolidation within an ongoing bull trend according to JPM’s commodities team. 2. The bank expects central banks and Chinese buyers to provide solid dip demand as stretched investor positioning eases.
I reported on Thursday how New Zealand’s rental growth has plummeted in response to the sharp decline in net overseas migration, which fell to only 10,628 in the year to August 2025, down from a decade average of 49,000. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, the collapse in net migration has helped
When the Trump administration and Albanese government inked a deal for the U.S. and Australian governments to invest $4.6 billion ($3 billion USD) in critical minerals projects across Australia, the announcement came with something of an added bonus for the U.S. shortly after: a claimed commitment that Australian superannuation funds would invest “almost $1 trillion”
China HRC prices keep falling, indicating hot metal output is too high and must be cut to restore steel mill margins. Iron ore is on borrowed time while this dynamic persists. The Pilbara killer cometh. The Simandou project, the world’s largest source of untapped open-pit iron ore of the highest iron content located in Guinea,
The pent-up demand boost is gone, but there’s modest growth. Flash Australia Composite PMI Output Index: 52.6 Index, sa, >50 = growth m/m % qr/qr (Sep: 52.4) Flash Australia Services PMI Business Activity Index: 53.1 (Sep: 52.4) Flash Australia Manufacturing PMI: 49.7 (Sep: 51.4) Flash Australia Manufacturing PMI Output Index: 49.7 (Sep: 52.4) “While it
Earlier this week, housing minister Clare O’Neil lied on Twitter (X) claiming that “for the first time in a decade, new homes are being built faster”, that “the only way to make homes more affordable is to build more of them”, and “we’re doing exactly that”: O’Neil’s lies followed the release of the Australian Bureau
There is one thing that would put a serious cat amongst the pigeons for today’s gold and tech blowoff rallies, and that is an oil shock. A rising DXY chasing climbing real interest rates and inflation is a perfect storm for duration and gold. The news, then, is unsettling for bulls. U.S. President Donald Trump
A probable meeting between Xi and Trump next week gave some stability to markets over macro concerns that have outweighed earnings release on Wall Street, which rallied alongside European stocks overnight. Oil prices headed higher on more Ruzzian refinery setbacks and likely sanctions while the USD moved slightly lower against most of the majors except
Last month, the Albanese government unveiled Labor’s 2035 climate targets, which promise to reduce emissions by more than 62% and up to 70%. Meeting the target and then hitting net zero emissions by 2050 would require Australia to transform its energy system completely and would require an extraordinary amount of investment in new electricity generation,
Asian share markets are facing mixed sentiment throughout the region with a squeeze on Ruzzian oil due to sanctions helping the sweet crude market while Japanese politics are seeing a selloff in Yen and in stocks. Currency markets are seeing some strength return to the USD which has been taking back its recent lost ground
Stats New Zealand’s latest migration data revealed that only 10,628 net overseas migrants landed in the country in the year to August 2025. This migration inflow was well below the decade average of 49,000 and around 120,000 fewer than the late 2023 peak. The collapse in net migration has helped drive New Zealand rental growth
Roy Morgan Research has released a survey on mortgage stress, which shows that the lowest share of mortgage holders ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ since February 2023, just prior to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) first rate hike. Roy Morgan estimates that 25.9% of mortgage holders were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the
The Market Ear on overheated. Stuck NASDAQ reversed right at the upper part of the range. Note the slightly lower high as we continue trading the range. Despite all the narratives, equities have done little (but produce volatility) since mid September. 50 day comes in at the lower part of the big trend channel. Source:
In this week’s podcast, Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer, Damien Klassen, examines whether the gold boom is starting to lose its shine — exploring what’s behind the recent cracks in the rally, and whether investors should be taking profits or buying the dip. Join us on Friday, October 24th, 2025, LIVE at 12:30 AEDT. Can’t
It was interesting reading an article from the US news site NPR lamenting the rise in electricity costs, which are growing at twice the rate of inflation. “Across the country, electricity prices have jumped more than twice as fast as the overall cost of living in the last year”, NPR reported. “Electricity prices have been
The Market Ear on the gold rout. As I keep saying, for a safe haven, gold is very volatile. Last time it corrected 30% “What is remarkable about the recent “Gold rush” is not only the magnitude of the move, but also the speed. The only other time in recent history that a similar event
In the early 2010s, the federal Labor government made the fateful decision to allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Queensland without requiring gas companies to first supply Australians. Gary Gray, the then-Federal Resources Minister in the Gillard/Rudd Labor governments, claimed that domestic gas reserve regulations cause uncertainty and discourage investment. This pitted the government
