When is a sustainable fund sustainable?
Is a fund sustainable just because it says it is? That is the essential question behind the topic of this article: greenwashing. A word that has even earned its place in Meriam-Webster, which defines it as, “expressions of environmentalist concerns especially as a cover for products, policies, or activities”. Think of greenwashing as an asset…
Record lift in petrol price. Trade surplus soars.
Record lift in petrol price. Trade surplus soars. Petrol Prices; Preliminary trade; Used vehicle market Fuel prices: The national average price of unleaded petrol rose by a record 14.4 cents a litre last week to 134.0 cents a litre according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum. But petrol prices are now easing in Sydney, Melbourne,…
East Coast petrol prices spike; Used car prices lift;
East Coast petrol prices spike; Used car prices lift China’s ‘V’-shaped recovery; Aussies return home Petrol Prices; Used car prices; Tourism; Chinese economic data Fuel prices: The national average price of unleaded petrol fell by 0.2 cents to 119.6 cents a litre last week according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum. But daily unleaded retail…
Investing in high-voltage transmission lines
When, in the midst of the pandemic, the Economic Society of Australia invited 150 of Australia’s keenest young thinkers to come up with “brief, specific and actionable” proposals to improve the economy, amid scores of ideas about improving job matching, changing the tax system, providing non-repayable loans to businesses and accelerating telehealth, two proposals stood…
Negative interest rates explained
A week ahead of Thursday’s budget update, it finally happened. Instead of the government paying to borrow in a way that would add to the burden on the budget (as has happened since time immemorial) it actually got paid to borrow. Think about that. Investors with millions of dollars to lend went to the Australian…
Bitcoin: 3 reasons why this rebound is different
Bitcoin is back. Three years after the bubble that inflated its value from US$5,000 to US$20,000 in less than three months burst in spectacular fashion, plunging more than 80%, the cryptocurrency is again on the verge of a record high. In recent days it has been trading above US$19,000, up from US$10,000 in October and…
Melbourne petrol prices lift; Used car prices up;
Melbourne petrol prices lift; Used car prices up Credit card lending falls; ‘Lowflation’ Petrol Prices; Used car prices; Private Sector Credit; Inflation Fuel prices: The national average price of unleaded petrol fell by 3.3 cents to 118.9 cents a litre (c/l) last week according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum. Metropolitan prices declined 5.2 cents…
The transition to renewable energy
Australia’s electricity system is undergoing unprecedented change arising from the proliferation of renewable energy generation, with South Australia and parts of the National Energy Market (NEM) already reaching the highest level of renewable penetration in the world. While such rapid transition is positive for our decarbonization efforts, our exiting grid system is not designed to cope with…
Why zero interest rates are here to stay
It’d be wrong to interpret last week’s Reserve Bank decision to cut its cash rate to 0.10% as an emergency response to the COVID crisis. The implication would be that once the pandemic is controlled the economy will return to something like the pre-crisis “normal” and the ultra-low interest rates will end. In reality, in…
Is a flood of liquidity entering markets?
As interest rates creep lower and asset-buying programs expand, contrarian investors have been steamrollered by liquidity and momentum. Yet abundant liquidity and plausible storytelling can only sustain markets for so long, and every story needs an ending. We prefer to leave expensive technology businesses to others, while focusing on neglected long-duration businesses with proven earnings…
