Wall Street continues to flail while European stocks try hard to push forward, buoyed by more defense spending promises while the cuts in US federal spending and employment loom large amid a the Canadian/Mexican tariffs that are still on the table. The USD was pushed back by Euro and Yen again overnight while the Australian
DXY is still falling. EUR is not exactly soaring post-German election. The AUD rocket is in danger of a crash landing. Lead boots is stable. Gold and oil got puked. Another dirt bubble goes pop. Woe is miners. EM deepsuckered. Junk nailed to the floor. The bond bid is back. As stocks freak about growth.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) latest annual national accounts reported that Australia’s land was valued at $9.2 trillion in 2023-24, with residential land accounting for 84% ($7.7 trillion). As illustrated below, residential land values have skyrocketed from 1.1 times Australia’s GDP in 1989 to 2.9 times GDP as of 2023-24. The total value of Australia’s
Asian share markets are not doing so well as the play catchup to the risk off mood that has been dragging down Wall Street since Friday night with returning Japanese markets down the most while local shares are still heading down due to the somewhat hawkish RBA position. Meanwhile the Australian dollar is trying to
Recent polling suggested that the Albanese Labor government faces imminent defeat at the upcoming federal election. The Freshwater poll, conducted for AFR, placed the Coalition ahead of Labor by 52% to 48% on a two-party preferred basis, the largest lead since before the last election. The Resolve poll, conducted for SMH, showed the Coalition ahead
The Market Ear with more. What could go wrong? Steve Cohen expects a significant correction. Warren is hoarding more cash than ever. Some valuations metrics say that this is the most overvalued market ever. Hedge funds, long-onlies, retail and CTAs are all close to max long. What could go wrong…? Retail Retreat Retail investors turned
Analysis shows that the federal government has made $123.6 billion worth of discretionary spending decisions in the three budgets it has handed down since taking office in May 2022. The government has also announced some $20 billion worth of election promises since the start of 2025, headlined by the $8.5 billion expenditure on Medicare. Independent
“Voluntary attendance. Online classes. Student numbers swelling”. The Guardian’s education correspondent, Caitlin Cassidy, has questioned the erosion of teaching standards at Australia’s universities, which have transformed into little more than “degree factories”: More than a dozen academics who spoke to Guardian Australia on the condition of anonymity say their work has become undervalued and underpaid,
According to the Department of Education, a record 1,018,799 international students were enrolled in Australia during the year ending Q3 2024: The table below shows a breakdown of enrolments by type of institution. As you can see, vocational education and training (VET) has had the largest increase in student enrolments since 2019, from 247,467 to
The Albanese government has set a fantastical target of building 1.2 million homes over five years, equating to 240,000 homes a year. As illustrated below, this is a level of construction that has never been achieved before. Current construction levels are tracking around 30% below the government’s target. The latest housing projects from the Housing