Aussie businesses cheer reopening roadmaps
Aussie businesses cheer reopening roadmaps NAB Business survey; New home sales; Labour force status of families The business confidence index rose from -5.5 points to +13.0 points. Sales of new detached houses rose by 2.3 per cent in September. The proportion of families with dependents has fallen sharply over the last five years. National Australia…
Payroll jobs below pre-pandemic levels.
Payroll jobs below pre-pandemic levels. Weekly payroll jobs and wages; Services sector activity National payroll jobs fell by 0.7 per cent over the fortnight to September 11, 2021. The AiGroup Performance of Services Index (PSI) rose from 45.6 in August to 45.7 in September. Weekly payrolls – Fortnight ended September 11, 2021 • Overall assessment:…
Has a bear case emerged?
Even though factors such as supply chain issues have caused a slowdown, we still see room to grow in this expansion. I’m an optimist, so I like to get the bad news out of the way first. Global stocks just had their worst month in a year. Companies such as Sherwin-Williams, Micron and Bed Bath…
Flexible RBA. Consumer confidence hits 9-week high
Flexible RBA. Consumer confidence hits 9-week high RBA Board meeting minutes; Consumer confidence; CBA Household spending intentions What happened? The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Board released the minutes of its September 7 meeting. At the meeting, the Board decided to taper its bond purchases from $5 billion to $4 billion per week until at…
Retirement: How to beat inflation
Investors with long memories – or a good education – will recall the bad old days when inflation was the economic bogeyman. It broke Germany’s Weimar Republic in the 1930s and nearly cratered America’s economy in the 1970s. Fortunately, inflation has been a non-issue in Western economies for decades. But is that about to change?…
ASIC the corporate lapdog
The implosion of Australia’s corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, under the federal government’s new directions, has gone from tragedy to farce. ASIC was described as “weak, hesitant and timid” in a 2014 Senate review of its performance. To be fair, that was before ASIC’s current leadership. Now any assessment could add “dazed…
CommSec Daiy Report Friday
Latest News Aussie shares started Friday’s session in the red and has remained near the lows of the day for the opening few hours of trade. The ASX 200 is down 66 points or 0.9% to 7,393 towards midday, following a mixed session on US markets overnight where the Dow Jones and S&P500 saw small…
Reporting season wrap up
This year’s reporting season illustrates the value of long-term company plans in a volatile economy. While continued lockdowns mean Australia hasn’t yet moved into a recovery phase, opportunities still await patient investors. Investors looking long term This year’s reporting season has revealed a fascinating divergence between companies with strong short-term results and those attracting investor…
Biggest lift in consumer confidence in 22 weeks
Biggest lift in consumer confidence in 22 weeks Consumer confidence; CBA card spending; Overseas arrivals & departures What happened? The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating rose by 3.1 per cent – the most in 22 weeks – to an 8-week high of 103.1 (long-run average 112.5 since 1990). Sentiment surged 10.6 per cent in…
Vital Signs: the Greens’ super-profits tax idea
Earlier this year, the Australian Greens proposed a wealth tax on billionaires straight out of the (former US presidential candidate) Elizabeth Warren playbook. This week it added what it called a “tycoon tax” that would tax so-called super-profits made by companies with annual turnovers of more than A$100 million. It might not be the winner…
