Dodging potholes on the road to recovery
After a year in which central banks won the tug of war between macroeconomic policy and political conflict, prospects look positive for a modest recovery in 2020. Yet with trade tensions still rife and valuations stretched, there are still plenty of economic, political and market challenges ahead. 2019 has been a very strong year for…
CommSec Daily Repot Thursday
Latest News Local shares continue to hover around historic highs with the ASX 200 briefly breaking through the previous intraday record of 6875 on the open this morning. The index is trading near 6874 with a gain of 24 points or 0.35% at lunch on Thursday. The Aussie market has enjoyed a solid run of…
The 10 Highest Paying Jobs In Oil & Gas
Make no mistake: Oil and gas companies may be doing some serious cost-cutting and slimming-and-trimming to stay competitive after the shale boom binge, but when it comes to employment, it’s still one of the best industries to hit up for a job. Jobs are booming, just as much as U.S. oil and gas production is….
Petrol prices near 12-month highs
Petrol prices near 12-month highs Weekly petrol prices Petrol prices: According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average price of unleaded petrol rose by 9.0 cents a litre last week to a near 12-month high of 154.1 cents a litre (highest since week to November 4 2018). The lift in prices was influenced…
Tough year, but per capita income at new highs Tax refunds up $5 billion over year
Tough year, but per capita income at new highs Tax refunds up $5 billion over year National Accounts; Monthly Budget Statement Rich Australia: Real GDP per capita rose by 0.3 per cent to a record high of $74,873 in 2018/19. Both national wealth (net worth) and household wealth were at record highs at the end…
Investor Signposts: Inflation data hogs the spotlight
CommSec Chief Economist Craig James previews the economic & financial market events scheduled for the week ahead including the State of the States report, Private sector credit & US Federal Reserve rates decision. Australia: Inflation data hogs the spotlight • In Australia, investors will be focussed on the latest inflation report. But the latest data…
Where Did Gold Come From: Black Holes, Aztecs And The Gods
Forever synonymous with wealth, gold has been the most coveted mineral on earth since its first recorded use back in 3000 BC. >From Ancient Egypt to the U.S. Treasury its history is one of war, death, love and prosperity. But how did this most precious of precious metals actually get here? How much gold is…
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…
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…
