International Reading: Mark Cuban says companies should be taxed more for buying back their own shares – Business Insider The Trump family has raked in $3.4 billion over his two presidencies, new report says – The Independent Goldman stands by call that consumers will bear the brunt of tariffs after Trump blasts bank’s economist –
Asian share markets were dominated by Chinese data today with weakness across their domestic economy while Japanese GDP data came in slightly better than expected. Most markets are up as a result as Chinese traders expect more stimulus while the BOJ seems to be faring okay with its inflationary targets not pulling back growth. The
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has slashed the official cash rate (OCR) by 2.25%, with further rate cuts expected. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, the reduction in the OCR has driven down the cost of new mortgages, which should have lifted housing demand and stimulated home prices. However, home values
Since the COVID-19 lockdowns started in Australia in March 2020, the nation’s capital city home prices have risen at vastly different rates. As illustrated below using PropTrack data, dwelling values in Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide have soared at similar rates, increasing by around 90% since March 2020 across the three markets. Sydney dwelling values have
The Market Ear on bubble trouble. Pushing it SPX trying to break above the Bollinger band. Not a reason to sell itself, as markets can stay in the upper Bollinger band for longer than most think possible, but still worth watching. Source: Bloomberg/GS Concentration “Growing index concentration and narrowing market breadth has increased downside risk
Record public spending has recently powered the Australian economy. At the same time, Australian households have exhibited recessionary behaviour, with real per capita household consumption tracking negative for seven consecutive quarters on an annual basis, down 2.4% from its peak. The decline in household spending, which usually accounts for about 60% of GDP growth, is
DXY is up again. AUD down. CNY fine. Gold whacked. Metals OK. Miners are going lower. EM rolled. Junk is fine. Yields up a bit. Stocks flat. The US PPI was pretty hot today. Even worse, it’s mostly services. Add ongoing pressure from goods via tariffs. With wage growth going strong as Trump slashes immigration
In the history of the industrialised world, there have been many technological innovations that have transformed the way we collectively live our lives. The steam locomotive and the radio are two of the many inventions that have changed history, but not all of them have been as profitable as one might think for their inventors.
The ferrous complex was smacked yesterday. ANZ has done a good job of calling the top. The iron ore market continues to shrug off ongoing weakness in China’s property sector. The prospect of further rationalisation of its steel industry could add further support to prices. …A pullback in steel output in recent months has improved
Australian real wages recorded a record 7.3% decline between mid-2020 and the September quarter of 2023. They have since recorded a modest 1.3% rebound, meaning that real wages remained 6.0% below their peak as of mid-2025. The August Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP) from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) forecast that real wages would