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
The ethical investing boom has hit a structural wall. For years, super funds and fund managers have funnelled billions into “Sustainable,” “ESG,” or “Ethical” Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). To the average Australian investor, these labels imply a clean conscience. But peel back the sleek marketing brochures, and you will find a different reality. Standard ethical funds frequently hold companies involved in
By Stephen Saunders Since 2006, Big Australia has sailed on through seven prime ministers. But Albo’s taken the numbers to a totally different level – likewise the denigration of his own people. After the December 2025 Bondi slaughter, Albo immediately ring-fenced mass migration. Overnight, he framed the “debate” as guns and antisemitism. Nobody blinked.
This week’s must-watch videos: UK energy expert Kathryn Porter delivers a warning for Australia: Great explanation of the coming Super El Niño: International Reading: Trump warned ‘once it’s gone, it’s gone’ as US has 43-day crude oil buffer – The Mirror Trump Brags He’s Taking ‘Billions of Barrels of Oil From Venezuela’ Because ‘To the
New data compiled by The Guardian Australia from Housing Australia shows that 50,633 guarantees were issued in the first nine months after the Albanese government expanded the 5% deposit scheme on 1 October 2025. With the Australian housing market now experiencing a synchronised price correction, a significant share of these buyers would have homes that
The daily SOI has not deteriorated any further However, credible sources are issuing a steady stream of intensifying warnings. Meteorologist Ryan Maue is no shrinking violet. Government service: In 2020–2021, he served as Chief Scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and later as Principal Assistant Director for Science at the White
Alex Joiner, chief economist at IFM Investors, posted the following chart on X (Twitter) illustrating the massive difference in goods (merchandise) exports between NSW and Victoria. As you can see, NSW goods exports have boomed over the past five years, driven by coal, which is the single largest export: According to the Parliament of NSW,
LVO is back at the coalface with a blunt pick today. The reality is that the expansion of data centres, which require a 24/7 power supply, is incompatible with the closure of baseload coal generators and the transition to an intermittent, weather-dependent system. This is an assertion and straw man argument, not logic. Of course,
AI data centres require continuous, stable 24/7 power, and the entire facility is engineered around that assumption. Even a brief outage of a few seconds can crash running training jobs, corrupt model checkpoints, or take thousands of GPUs offline. GPUs and accelerators draw extremely high, constant loads (often 30–60 MW for a large site), making stable
The ferrous complex remains under pressure amid mounting cross-currents. Topping the list is the decline and fall of Radiant World as it sinks into ignominy with its counterparties. Deutsche Bank AG and KBC Group NV have frozen some of the company’s Singapore bank accounts, while some other banks have suspended credit lines… Two of the
Former senior Australian Treasury official David Pearl gave a fantastic interview on the John Anderson podcast where, among other things, he highlighted how economic policy in Australia has lost focus on growing the economy via productivity improvements and has become increasingly reliant on government spending and interference to drive growth. Below are some key highlights:
TME kicks us off. Market recovered. Leadership didn’t The Nasdaq has rebounded sharply from last week’s panic, but many of the market’s most sensitive AI trades are still struggling to confirm the move. Credit, high-beta technology and several former AI leaders continue to lag, suggesting the latest rebound remains narrower than headline indices imply. NASDAQ
When you exploit and ruin a country for seventy years, should you really be surprised that when it wins the war against you, it is payback time? Via FARS, the official Iranian news service. Salimi, Member of the Presidium of the Majlis: The initial text of the plan “Strategic Action to Ensure the Security and
Over the past week, the Australian media has been full of articles about the sharp decline in home values, with one commentator noting that Labor’s budget has triggered a housing slump that has wiped $230 billion from property values. In reality, the decline in home values is minor in a historical sense. For example, PropTrack’s
The National Housing Accord’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years, or 240,000 annually, is falling way behind, with only 307,635 dwellings completed over the first 21 months of the Accord, 112,365 (27%) fewer than the run rate required to meet the target. The Albanese government hoped that the federal budget’s changes to
Sometimes it takes a personal angle to attract interest. I have been discussing the developing super El Niño for a couple of months without anyone taking much notice. The SOI (within its usual statistical parameters) is predicting a global food disaster. There is some hope it will bottom out. The BOM is not hopeful. All
When Tanya Plibersek was Australia’s housing minister under the Rudd government, Labor relaxed FIRB rules for foreign buyers, including: Allowing temporary residents to buy established dwellings without prior FIRB approval Raising monetary thresholds for screening Plibersek argued at the time that these changes were justified to support housing demand during the GFC. Alongside expanded first
In this week’s podcast, Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer, Damien Klassen, revisits the data centre investment boom — exploring whether the world is on track to build more capacity than it needs, how modular data centres are changing the economics of expansion, and whether the enormous pipeline of projects still underway can be justified by
I knew it was bad, but not this bad. China is eating the German economy alive. Check out this chart from UBS. It will be even worse for German exports across the world (though it retains a large trade surplus) as Chinese exports displace German goods in all markets. German exports to China declined -44%
Most of Australia’s previous privatisations were anti-competitive and led to private monopolies that harmed consumers and taxpayers. Our politicians embraced this agenda because it permitted them to achieve both lower taxes and lower public debt (in the short term) by simply shifting monopoly ownership from public to private hands. They also made the mistaken assumption
Ferrous remains the outlier in the exaggerated dead cat bounce, popping a little without steel support, probably thanks to the Pilbara strike in two days. It will cost BHP $120m per day, so it won’t last long. Also bullish, Ferrexpo suspended mining in Ukraine, though it is already much smaller than it used to be.
When former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull first announced Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped hydro project in 2017, it was billed as a $2 billion project capable of producing 2 megawatts of power on demand and 350,000 megawatt-hours of storage by 2021. Snowy Hydro 2.0 has been delayed several times since its announcement, with expenditures forecast to
TME measures the dead cat. FOMO The market has gone from capitulation to full-blown FOMO in just a few sessions. Options positioning, volatility and dealer flows all suggest the latest squeeze is becoming increasingly self-reinforcing. Upside pain fuel The violent rebound makes more sense in the context of what came before it. Goldman Sachs’ Prime
The Iranians and Omanis appear close to a deal to open Hormuz. Iran says the U.S. sanctions are to blame for the delay in finalising a maritime route with Oman. Tehran: Victory, Iran says the deal will protect Iran’s strategic advantage over Hormuz and its military victories. Mixed messages: Iran says talks only with Oman. US
As the debate on the issue of net zero emissions and climate change continues in the halls of power and around backyard BBQ’s across the nation, new data from Compass Polling has shed light on what voters believe when the time comes to pay for action on climate change directly with their wallets. The poll
The UK government, from 1 January 2024, banned undergraduate international students from bringing family members to “crack down on those who take advantage of the flexibility of the UK’s immigration system” and to “end the unreasonable practice of overseas students bringing their family members to the UK”. Australia has taken a different approach, with the government
