Another selloff on Wall Street overnight was balanced by a strong bid across European stocks as risk markets continue to dance around the lower volatility trading period before Christmas. Potential progress in peace talks in Ukraine saw oil prices drop again while the USD continues to drift lower against the majors as bonds rallied on
Median dwelling values in Queensland have roughly doubled since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, Queensland’s median dwelling price-to-income ratio soared to 8.8 (Brisbane) and 8.5 (regional Queensland) as of the September quarter of 2025: The percentage of median household income required to service a mortgage in Queensland was also tracking at
Eric Reguly, the European Bureau Chief of The Globe & Mail, has a timely article that explains how China is deceiving Europe on climate and energy policy. Reguly argues that China’s continued reliance on cheap coal power gives it a decisive industrial advantage over Europe, where high electricity prices and strict climate policies are driving
Asian share markets are having a rough start to the trading week as the combination of lower trading volumes heading into the end of the calendar year combined with a lot of movement expected around central bank meetings this week increase volatility across the complex. Yen is up against USD on strong data with a
It’s going to be a busy week for the Australian dollar which has been on a tear recently against a broadening weakness building in USD (now down over 3% in two weeks). With a slew of central bank decisions in the next few days and the long awaited, delayed and possibly massaged US non-farm payrolls
SEEK has released its November labour market data, which contains both positives and negatives. SEEK reported a 0.5% decline in job ads over the month of November. Job ads were also down 0.9% over the quarter and 1.9% year-on-year. However, the number of applications per job ad held stable at a historically high level. The
The final report from the Federal Senate Inquiry into the Quality of Governance at Australian Higher Education Providers delivered a scathing assessment, largely focused on the corporatisation of public universities and its negative impact on students, staff, and the sector’s public mission. The report slammed “poor governance, wrongly focused decision-making, and poor employment practices” for
Back in 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping coined what has become a legendary phrase: “Housing is for living in and not for speculation.” For years after Xi uttered these now-famous words, many Chinese property investors refused to listen; they continued to pour trillions of dollars into property speculation, even as the number of empty homes
Germany once operated over 22 GW of nuclear capacity, producing around 160 TWh annually at low cost and without emissions. Following the Fukushima accident in 2011, Berlin accelerated closures, shutting 8 GW immediately and completing the phase-out by 2023. However, renewables could not provide stable baseload power. As a result, the shortfall was filled by
Recently U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance retweeted a copy of a chart from Ice Cap Asset Management showing that growth in Canada’s GDP per capita had significantly underperformed both Britain and the United States since 2016. “While I’m sure the causes are complicated, no nation has leaned more into “diversity is our strength, we don’t