Scott Maynard, managing director of electric vehicle (EV) maker Polestar in Australia, has called for an end to tax breaks for large four-wheel-drive utes. Maynard says the fringe benefits tax (FBT) concession “continues to disproportionately serve the sale of dual cab utes and not what I would consider to be a far more progressive style
We know that we are wrecking our economy with crazy high gas prices. We also know that this is a direct result of subsidising gas exports to China, which it sends back as battleships. We know that Japan resells huge quantities of cheap Aussie gas across Asia at a markup. We know that we need
Yesterday, I started paying for ChatGPT. I am not the only one. The Market Ear. Silicon smackdown: Will OpenAI ever be matched? OpenAI has become the AI industry’s dominant force, with 800M users and a $300B valuation—but the race is far from over. As Gavin Baker notes, an Apple-Grok partnership could be the strategic counter
Less than two months before Australia went to the polls for May’s federal election, the expectation was that the Coalition would achieve a shock victory, becoming the first opposition to unseat a federal government after a single term since the Great Depression. Then, as the spotlight turned to then Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, his frontbench,
The ferrous complex continues to squeeze with seasonality. Previous squeezes in the past year suggest a price cap around $110. Right where Indian exports will surge. Is there anything to it? Not really. So far, we have had excuses such as Chinese property mega-stimulus. Albo grovelling. A new dam. For example: The massive economic stimulus
Last night saw risk markets barely move on a quiet economic calendar or geopolitical catalysts with only the USD having any reactions as continued trade concerns with the Trump regime pushing for a baseline 15-20% tariff on all EU products sending King Dollar down against everything. Wall Street eked out more record highs with minimal
Australia is suffering a generational housing shortage amid historically high immigration-driven population growth and sluggish housing supply. In late 2023, the National Cabinet agreed to a new Housing Accord, which would deliver 1.2 million homes over five years, commencing on 1 July 2024. Australian dwelling approvals, commencements, and completions are currently tracking around 25% (60,000)
As shown by the following chart from Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, Australia’s recent productivity growth has been among the worst in the advanced world. Australia’s labour productivity (GDP per hour worked) has experienced virtually zero growth since 2016. Reasons for the productivity decline: I attribute Australia’s poor productivity performance to four main factors. 1)
Asian share markets are quite mixed in the first trading session of the week as concerns over the Trump regimes bullying of the EU in its “negotiations” over the looming August 1st trade deal are spilling over. The USD is losing ground against all the major currency pairs as a result with Yen also gapping
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand released CPI inflation data today, which showed that New Zealand inflation lifted further in Q2 to 2.7%. Major bank ASB noted that while the result wasn’t a surprise, “it is an unwelcome development after NZ endured years of high interest rates to tame rampant inflation”. “The last thing New