The Market Ear with a May cleanup. Marvelous May We just completed the single best month of May for stocks in the last 35 years. As we have highlighted over and over again during the past few weeks, sentiment and positioning have been very light, which of course has helped the rally. However, now the
Westpac is reading the economy right as examines Q1 GDP. Domestic demand is expected to have slowed, lifting only 0.3%qtr in Q1. As growth in new public demand moderates, private demand remains patchy and at this stage, unable to pick up the slack left by the public sector. The impacts of the natural disasters which
Friday night was a mixed one for risk markets and will be compounded again with a lot of weekend news, let alone the big strike on Russia by the Ukrainians, but also Chinese PMI prints and what looks like another round of tariffs from the Trump regime coupled with a lot of whining about China.
This week’s Q1 national accounts release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is expected to reveal that per capita GDP declined, effectively pushing Australians back into recession after the reprieve in Q4 2024. The weak result will likely be driven by household consumption, which continues to disappoint despite the Stage 3 tax cuts and falling
The Albanese government’s fantastical target to build 1.2 million homes over five years is centred on delivering a boom in high-rise towers. However, the April dwelling approvals data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that high-density approvals have collapsed. Overall dwelling approvals fell by 5.7% in April in seasonally adjusted terms, which followed
This weekend saw 2,962 auctions held across the capital cities, the highest volume since the week before Easter and the second-highest volume of auctions so far this year. Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) reported a preliminary auction clearance rate of 70.0%, down slightly from 71.3% last week, which was revised to a final clearance rate of 65.1%
DXY and EUR both look like they are consolidating for more. AUD at bottom of rising channel. Brent will crash Monday after OPEC lifted output again. The child president is making everyone except the US “drill, baby, drill”. Metals no bueno. Miners yuk. EM meh. Junk all good. Yields helping. Stocks on hold. Is the
By Stephen Wu, senior economist at CBA. Headline inflation in April was unchanged at 2.4%/yr, with the annual trimmed mean measure nudging up to 2.8%. Retail trade data surprised on the downside, with warmer weather and price rises playing a role. The week ahead brings Q1 25 GDP, where we expect the annual rate to
Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) has published its daily dwelling value index for 31 May, which covers Australia’s five major city housing markets. Dwelling values rose by 0.5% in May at the aggregate 5-city level, with all major markets recording solid increases: Over the May quarter, dwelling values rose by 1.2%, with Brisbane (1.6%) leading the way,
The Albanese government’s National Housing Accord commenced on 1 July 2024 and requires the construction of 1.2 million homes over five years, which equates to 20,000 homes per month and 240,000 homes a year. As illustrated in the next chart, the 240,000 annual housing target is beyond anything Australia has ever achieved before and way