The federal government launched a new skills visa in December, with the aim of attracting migrants who can make a significant contribution to the economy and fill roles where no Australian workers are available. However, migration agents claim that processing times for the new visa are too long, hampering the ability of employers to recruit
The typical Australian mortgage holder has experienced a massive rise in mortgage payments following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) monetary tightening cycle, beginning in May 2022. As illustrated by the following chart from Westpac, the average minimum mortgage repayment in Australia rose from around $1,800 before the first rate hike to a peak of
You need US dollars to buy US assets. AUD rejected! Lead boots were made for walking. Three black crows for gold. Oil bust. Metals meh. Mining meh. EM meh. Junk sees sunny uplands ahead. Yields are helping now. Thank Saudi. Stocks to the moon! The AUD has turned into the world’s first Costanza coin. It
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) announced this week an increase in electricity prices for households with standing offer plans. Electricity customers in NSW face the biggest increase in default market offer prices from 1 July, with power bills across the state to rise by between 6.1% and 9.1%. AER chair Clare Savage says that while
Wall Street returned with a bang after its long weekend break with a 2% plus surge across the board in response to the 180 degree spinning top EU Trump tariffs, which should give Asian equities a bounce on the open this morning. Meanwhile the broader selloff in USD was also backed off as Euro pulled
Coolabah Capital portfolio manager Chris Joye published an article in The AFR highlighting the giant contribution of government spending to Australia’s post-COVID economy. A gigantic government cash splash has helped. In fact, a remarkable 63% of all Australia’s economic growth since December 2019 has been driven by the public, rather than private, sector. Expressed another
Last week, the federal government’s own advisory body, the National Housing Supply & Affordability Council (NHSAC) released its 2025 State of the Housing System report, which forecast that only 938,000 dwellings will be built nationwide by mid-2029, 262,000 dwellings short of Labor’s National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes over five years. NHSAC
Risk markets in Asia are doing a little better despite the lack of a lead from a closed Wall Street with the focus on positive Chinese industrial production numbers. However currency markets are still wanting to push the USD down further with a somewhat hawkish talk from the BOJ not helping the USDJPY pair while
Leith and I have both explored the extraordinary price of coffee in Australia, with causes as varied as the price of beans in Brazilian drought to local labour costs and draining income. Coffee is now a luxury item. And the cafepocalypse in full swing. I admit, we’re not losing much here. I have long criticised
The Market Ear with more. So little exuberance Positioning and sentiment remain muted across the board. Hedge fund leverage is at cycle lows, CTAs and systematics are neutral, and there’s over $7 trillion parked in money markets. With so little exuberance, it’s hard to get truly bearish from here. Let’s examine the latest positioning and