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Website improvements

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

Latest posts

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Business group lowballs low-paid workers

The annual minimum wage circus has begun, with the Australian Industry Group (AIG) urging the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to adopt a “moderate increase” in minimum wages of not more than 2.6%: “In recent years, high inflation resulted in very large increases to minimum wages. But in 2025 the balance of economic factors has squarely

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Australia well-endowed with Rudd alternative

Australia’s tea lady in Washington, Kevin Rudd, has failed again. SMH. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made an eleventh-hour bid to avoid the worst of US President Donald Trump’s trade strikes by enlisting the advice of one of the most influential Australians in Trump’s orbit, golf star Greg Norman. Albanese dined with Norman in Melbourne

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BHP reads iron ore its last rites

The ferrous jaws remain. BHP has delivered iron ore its last rites. BHP (ASX:BHP) Group (NYSE:BHP), the world’s largest publicly traded mining company, is reportedly contemplating the separation of its Australian iron ore and coal divisions. This potential move is part of a mid-term growth strategy, as per Reuters. BHP Group’s potential spinoff of these

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MB Fund Podcast: Liberation Day Fallout

Join us this week as Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer, Damien Klassen look at what we know about Trump’s new tariffs, what they mean for the stock market and our thoughts on the market effect. Can’t make it to the live series? Catch up on the content via Podcasts or our recorded Videos. Damien Klassen is Chief Investment Officer

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How to break the gas cartel

Jennifer Hewitt writes a reasonable piece on the gas crisis, but her conclusion is rubbish. AFR. …blaming the LNG export industry for high power prices is an easy political target despite the extraordinary complexity and commercial self-interest in the gas market. At various times since, both Coalition and Labor governments have attempted to make up

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Peter Dutton is doing his best to throw the election

Peter Dutton’s excellent East Coast gas reservation policy is being undermined by policies that few voters asked for and that the mainstream will never support. On Wednesday, Dutton announced that a Coalition government will crack down on “waste and rorts” in government spending, which Labor has argued means cuts to essential services, including health and

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How can the Grattan Institute still support high immigration?

Grattan Institute CEO, Aruna Sathanapally, told ABC’s Q&A that Australia’s failure to build enough housing was “at the heart of our economic problems”: “We can see that the wealth of higher-income Australians or higher-wealth Australians has turbocharged, particularly due to housing prices. It’s property prices that’s led to that increase in wealth. And we haven’t

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The upside and down of Trump tariffs

Terrific video here on how Trump’s tariffs are aimed at working while the fallout is in the implementation. The reciprocal tariffs announced today do not have the subtlety required. CBA explains the tariffs as follows: President Trump has announced reciprocal tariffs against all countries. The level of duty will be half of what the US

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The math doesn’t add up for Australian housing

The federal government’s housing accord commenced on 1 July 2024 and aims to construct 1.2 million dwellings over five years, equivalent to 20,000 homes per month. On Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released dwelling approvals data, which revealed that 15,400 homes were approved for construction in February, 4,600 (23%) below the target. Over

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Aussie mediocrity is turning fatal

This is another pointless debate, as usual. The Reserve Bank governor has contradicted Labor’s claims that wages can continue to rise without productivity gains, as the Albanese government pushes for an above-inflation increase for 3 million workers on minimum rates this year. Labor’s submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review calls for an

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Macro Morning

Well here it is, you get a tariff – he gets a tariff – she gets a tariff – we all get tariffs! Australia was let off mildly by the Trump regime’s new tariff crusade but as they don’t understand, its all interconnected with the near 50% tariffs on Chyna about to devastate not only

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Australian dollar gazumped by tariff shock

DXY is falling again after Liberation Day tariff announcements. AUD was up big, down big, then did little. Lead boots will be interesting today. Gold to the moon. Oil toppy. Base metals are screaming “hard landing”. Big mining’s big bear knows no bottom. EM meh. Credit not stressed enough. Yields fell as growth worries mount.

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Australia has too many streaming services

Warner Bros Discovery’s Max streaming service debuted in an already-crowded Australian market on Monday. Warner Bros Discovery executive Jean-Briac Perrette is upbeat about the outlook for the sector, contending that streaming will be a “fantastic business”. “The streaming business, and the media business, to a large part, is moving towards a handful of successful, big

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Stock robots squirm as hard landing builds

The Market Ear sees squirming robots. CTAs in US equities CTAs have aggressively sold US equities and are now estimated to be short $30bn. Not a huge number per se but we are at an interesting “extreme” level looking back over the past 10 years. This would be supportive evidence for a tactical long trade.

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Labor continues to lie about power prices

Recall Labor’s Powering Australia Plan, which promised to reduce NEM wholesale electricity costs by $11 per MWh, from $62 to $51, by 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed this modelling by RepuTex Energy as “the most comprehensive modelling ever done for any policy by any ­opposition in Australia’s history since Federation”. Albanese also repeatedly spruiked that

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Paralysed RBA to cut, cut, cut

Goldman’s Andrew Boak has been more right than everyone so far. In her post-meeting press conference RBA Governor Bullock noted that today’s decision to keep the policy rate unchanged at 4.10% was a consensus decision and that the Board did not explicitly consider a rate cut at the meeting. Importantly, Governor Bullock did not repeat

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Young Aussies have been robbed of wages

Progressive think tank Per Capita has released a report criticising the low wage growth experienced by young Australians, which has prevented them from purchasing a home. Per capita claims young Australians have suffered from a “lost decade during which real wages barely grew”.  At the same time, home ownership rates for younger Australians collapsed. “In

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Gas goons on the run

The gas goons are on the run. Reuters. At a conference in Sydney, Australian executives of Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab , ExxonMobil and Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab pushed back on the coalition’s proposal, arguing more government intervention would hamper the development of gas supply. These people are like a broken record. They will do as they are

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Iron ore jaws widen again

The jaws are back as steel falls while iron ore rises. MySteel sparked the rally. “A further increase in the hot metal output at Chinese steelmakers lent some support to the prices of imported iron ore last week,” said Chinese consultancy Mysteel. Hot metal production in March continued to increase by 10,200 tons to 2.3728

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A long recession for Australian households

The Q4 2024 national accounts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that Australian households remained trapped in recession. As illustrated by the blue bars below, real per capita household consumption declined for an eighth consecutive quarter in Q4. The decline in per capita household consumption followed an even steeper decline in incomes. As

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Australian Made campaign is futile without affordable energy

The Australian Made Campaign has welcomed additional funding of $20 million in last week’s federal budget. Amongst other things, this funding will allow the organisation to launch a new campaign to encourage more Australians to buy locally made products, and assist more local manufacturers and producers to obtain Australian Made certification. “This level of support

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Macro Morning

Volatility was relatively low on risk markets overnight as traders await the real April Fool’s Day as the Trump Regime’s “Worldwide Shoot Ourselves in the Feet” tariff deadline draws near. Wall Street filled some short positions and rebounded alongside European stocks but it was relatively modest while the USD held against Euro, Yen and Pound