Will flight shame take off?
Flight shame, or the guilt travellers feel about the harmful emissions produced by air travel, is starting to reduce passenger numbers in Sweden. If this behaviour spreads to the rest of Europe, and in particular begins to influence corporates to cut down on flights, European airlines face a threat to which there is no obvious…
Is Vietnam the new China?
One of the things you least want to hear when travelling is how much more interesting or beautiful a country was ten or twenty years ago. I heard this a lot in the 1980s when I was visiting south-east Asia and I tried to avoid the temptation to be that travel bore when passing through…
October lives up to its reputation
October lives up to its reputation Financial markets Global sell-off: Sharemarkets across the globe are down 2-3%, responding to a raft of worries Sharemarket movements can impact consumer sentiment and wealth and therefore affect spending. What has happened and what does it mean? • October has a bad reputation with sharemarket investors. There was the…
Tax cuts spent on sports gear, clothing & shoes
Tax cuts spent on sports gear, clothing & shoes Retail trade; Financial Stability Review Retail trade lifts: Retail trade rose by 0.4 per cent in August after an unchanged result in July (previously reported as a fall of 0.1 per cent). It was the strongest lift in spending in six months. Big retail up: Sales…
CommSec Daily Report Wedsday
Latest News The Aussie market is currently having its worst trading session in a fortnight with the ASX 200 easing 32 points or 0.5 per cent to 6716, but off session lows. This follows falls on Wall Street overnight which was weighed by weaker US economic data and news that US Democrats beginning an inquiry…
U.S. To “Drown The World” In Oil
The U.S. could “drown the world in oil” over the next decade, which, according to Global Witness, would “spell disaster” for the world’s attempts to address climate change. The U.S. is set to account for 61 percent of all new oil and gas production over the next decade. A recent report from this organization says…
CommSec Daily Report Thursday
Latest News The Australian sharemarket has been aggressively sold off in early trade on Thursday. At the worst levels of the morning the Index was down 154 points or 2.3 per cent to 6,442. The follows steep falls overnight for US and European stocks in response to escalating concerns around slowing global growth. The Dow…
Former Melbourne financial adviser permanently banned
ASIC has permanently banned former financial advisor Robert Shane Michael of Bentleigh, Victoria, from providing financial services for engaging in misconduct which included dishonestly borrowing money from his clients’ SMSF accounts and using them for his own personal expenditure. From August 2009 to July 2017, Mr Michael was an authorised representative of Marigold Falconer International…
Australia depends less on Chinese trade than some might think
China now buys almost a third of Australia’s exports – about twice the value bought by second-placed Japan, and about nine times fifth-placed United States. It’s a situation that sparks fears of a Chinese economic slowdown, or a backlash if we offend China’s government in some way, such as by criticising its actions in Xinjiang…
APRA Finalises Guidance on Residential Mortgage Lending
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has announced that it will proceed with proposed changes to its guidance on the serviceability assessments that authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) perform on residential mortgage applications. In a letter to ADIs issued today, APRA confirmed its updated guidance on residential mortgage lending will no longer expect them to assess…
