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By the Stig, an anonymous beltway insider Albo scorns the voting mass who query his immigration (and climate) directions. Post the Secret Harbour ON surge, heās still blaming them as āmisinformedā or racist.Ā Itās a fashion among Australiaās governing classes to yearn for halcyon days. When supposedly curated and agreed āfactsā could be packaged by
International reading: US Army ‘could use student loans to conscript troops to fight Iran’ – AOL Trump Lies That Medicare for All Would Cost āEntire Budget of the Whole Countryā – Common Dreams Europe increasingly angry at US over world economy as Canada tariffs ‘harm everyone’ – The Mirror Dutch central bank moves ā¬10 billion
Victoria’s economy is in a precarious position. The state has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 5.1%, versus 4.2% across the rest of the nation: Wednesday’s national accounts for the June quarter also showed that Victoria recorded the nation’s biggest decline in real per capita household consumption in 2025-26: Victoria also has the
You have to see this from Ryan Maue. Godzilla El NiƱo birthing conveyor-belt cyclones in the Eastern Pacific. There is a dynamic GIF on his X feed, so check it out. This is pure climate science porn. In the Western Pacific, there is some divergence, which is probably temporary. The SOI, an atmospheric measure, has
The latest dwelling completions data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that only 173,400 homes were built in the year to March 2026, 66,600 (28%) fewer than the 240,000 annual run rate required to meet the National Housing Accord’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years. Over the first 21 months
The whacko ferrous rally has come to a shuddering halt as coking coal coughs. As previously noted, Chinese inspections of Shanxi coal mines following the epic May explosion that killed 82 workers have slowed production, but I do not expect this to last long. The July surge in imports eased in August. It should continue
Larry Kaine, managing partner at Corporate Recovery Partners, believes the collapse of property developer Bathla Group ā one of Western Sydneyās biggest home builders ā could be the biggest in Australian corporate history. Bathla Group entered voluntary administration last week after running out of cash, leaving $3.6āÆbillion in privateācredit debt, 2,000 homes midāconstruction, and 15,000
TME describes the bull case for tech. The tech squeeze setup Tech has spent months consolidating, but the setup i s starting to look increasingly asymmetric. Risk has been cut, relative vol has collapsed and NVDA is already squeezing. September seasonality can still deliver some wobble, but with Q4 seasonality approaching and tech optionality this
War headlines today: Iran bombs UAE and Kuwait in reprisal for US attacks. Trump mulling declaring war over the midterms. Houthis bomb Yemeni government. Norway outrages Russia by siezing scietific vessel in Arctic. Brent is up but cracks are down. Yields were relieved, given they now follow cracks. Aussie diesel is yet to fully catch
Since U.S. President Donald Trump first unleashed his various tariffs on the Canadian economy, its economic performance has been on a rollercoaster ride. Before the tariffs and the uncertainty they created about Canada’s economic future, the broader Canadian economy was performing relatively well, especially for a nation that had just sharply reduced its migration intake.
According to Cotality, the largest capital city house price decline on record, based on 40 years of data, was between October 2017 and May 2019, when values declined by 8.2%. Cotality’s dwelling value results for August revealed that values across the combined capital cities have already declined by 4.6%, with a hefty 3.7% decline recorded
The notion that renewable energy is cheap to generate (because the fuel source is free) but very expensive to integrate is being borne out by recent cost blowouts in transmission and storage. Already we have seen the cost of the Snowy Hydro 2.0 storage project balloon from an initially announced $2 billion to more than
In this weekās podcast, Nucleus Wealthās Chief Investment Officer, Damien Klassen, examines what Nvidiaās latest earnings tell us about the AI boom ā with record revenue, strong data centre demand, and another major upgrade to its outlook suggesting thereās still plenty of runway ahead. We unpack whatās driving the relentless AI spending, whether the pace
If you want to see a failed market in action, look at this chart. While there was a debate about gas taxes and domestic reservation, the gas export cartel pushed the price lower to hoodwink the public. Now it is over, and global prices are going nuts; the price is glued to the $12Gj price
Melbourne’s population has already expanded by around 2 million people (roughly 57%) this century, from around 3.5 million in 2000 to 5.5 million currently. This rapid growth has been highly problematic, creating intense pressure on infrastructure and services. Victoria’s per capita economic growth and productivity have also lagged the nation’s significantly. The state is drowning
Rate hike calls are reaching screaming levels. Goldman has pivoted. Housing Price Collapse: Australian capital-city prices down 4.6% from March peak, projected 15% decline in Sydney/Melbourne by mid-2027 (largest downturn on record), triggering 130bp drag on consumer spending growth and pressuring GDP via negative wealth effects. RBA Policy Timing Shift: Base case for November cash
Ben Carroll took over as the premier of Victoria in late July. He previously served as the state’s deputy premier from 2023. As a result, he was involved in all major decisions. Since he became premier, Carroll has backtracked on a range of decisions, arguing that there’s a new sheriff in town and that he
DXY is doing a whole lot of sideways. AUD is threatening to jump above CNY and challenge the long-term resistance line at 72 cents. The twins of doom are opposites again. AI metals have no fear, or is that a double top on copper? Big miners not quite so pucker. EM trying again. Not sure
War headlines today. Iran claims two tankers ablaze in Hormuz were hit by mines. Iran says 19 dead after US attacks. Readying response. Trump doesn’t care less about negotiations. Bombs two Iranian tankers in “tanker for tanker” policy. Houthis explosive drone boat blown up in Red Sea. Brent and cracks eased slightly after yesterday’s rip.
When total Australian federal government debt recently ticked over the $1 trillion mark, it triggered a war of words over who should take the lion’s share of responsibility for reaching this undesirable milestone. In the view of opposition leader Angus Taylor, the blame lies with the Labor Party. “A trillion dollars of Labor debt is
Like clockwork, Treasurer “Spin” Jim Chalmers was quick to talk up Wednesday’s soft GDP results of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which saw the aggregate economy grow by 0.4% over the June quarter to be 2.1% larger year-over-year: “The national accounts show that our economy is quite resilient and robust in the face of
Various bank economists predicted that the economy would slide back into a per capita recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth in real GDP per capita, ahead of Wednesday’s Q2 2026 national accounts release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). However, the result was slightly stronger than expected, with Australia’s real GDP
To great fanfare. This is not quite as salubrious as it seems. This is installed capacity, not actual electricity produced. On that measure, solar and wind are still well behind coal. Be aware that 2026 H1 is annualised, so it may overstate the coal displacement. There are a few reasons to expect the transition to
Australia’s productivity growth over the past decade has been among the poorest in the OECD, hampering economic and per capita growth and contributing to the nation’s inflationary pressures. Australia’s original “productivity tsar”, Professor Gary Banks, was the long-serving founding chair of the Productivity Commission (1998-2013). Back then, you could trust the PC to deliver sound
Roy Morgan sees 18-year highs in mortgage stress. New research from Roy Morgan shows 32.5% of mortgage holders āAt Riskā of āmortgage stressā in July 2026, up 2.2% points from June 2026 and after three interest rate increases from the Reserve Bank (RBA) during the first few months of this year. The 32.5% of mortgage
