Unsustainable markets the new abnormal
Ferris Bueller would be proud. The RBA’s day off set the cat amongst the pigeons. That free market interest rate pricing bore no resemblance to the market price should have been obvious. It did not stop those accustomed to turning up at the auction every day to sell their overpriced bonds to an overly enthusiastic…
ASX stays positive after US taper call
SYDNEY, AAP – ASX investors have raised the indices despite the US Federal Reserve’s decision to ease bond purchases and a big drop in oil prices. Shares were a little higher on Thursday and most categories were up following more record closing highs on Wall Street. The US central bank will begin easing pandemic support…
IAG flags greater costs from wild weather
SYDNEY, AAP – Insurance Australia Group has raised its cost estimate for severe weather this financial year after storms and hail damaged several states last month. IAG on Tuesday increased its natural peril claim costs forecast from $765 million to $1.04 billion, having already increased the allowance significantly on the prior year. About 14,000 claims…
Will Australia see a volatile recovery?
The rotation to an economic recovery favouring value stocks continues but risks loom on the horizon. Perpetual’s Head of Equities, Paul Skamvougeras, looks at the lessons learnt from reporting season and the trends he expects to see as NSW and Victoria reopen. A strong August reporting season for our portfolios vindicated many of our positions….
Buying a home is ‘never easy’: Morrison
CANBERRA, AAP – Scott Morrison insists buying a home has never been easy as concerns grow property ownership dreams are becoming impossible. The prime minister pointed to federal government schemes to help first home owners and renovators as actions to curb the affordability crisis. “Buying a home is never easy,” he told Melbourne radio 3AW…
Exemptions scrapped for overseas travel
CANBERRA, AAP – Fully vaccinated Australians will no longer have to apply for travel exemptions to leave the country, as the country prepares to ease its international borders. Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the exemption will no longer be in place from Wednesday, ahead of the resumption of international travel from November 1. Meanwhile, Singapore…
Origin Energy pays $5m fine for exit fees
MELBOURNE, AAP – Origin Energy has been hit with $5 million in penalties for charging prohibited exit fees to more than 20,000 gas and electricity small business customers. Victoria’s Essential Services Commission issued 250 penalty notices to Origin Energy after it found more than 77,000 gas and electricity small business contracts wrongly included exit fees…
Government-run super fund a ‘dud’: report
CANBERRA, AAP – Industry Super Australia has pre-empted any attempt to create a federal government-run superannuation default fund, saying it would dud workers out of thousands of dollars. Its modelling shows a 30-year-old worker in such a government-run fund would pay exorbitant fees, earn lower investment returns and end up $126,000 worse off at retirement…
Comms stocks drag down Nasdaq, S&P
NEW YORK CITY, RAW – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have closed lower as disappointing quarterly reports from Snap Inc and Intel Corp put pressure on the communications and technology sectors and investors turned skittish as Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell discussed stimulus tapering. The Dow managed to end Friday with a record closing high…
Understanding the global energy crisis
Far from emerging from the COVID shock awash with fuel, as might be expected after an economic slowdown, the world is entering a new energy crisis the like of which hasn’t been seen since the 1970s. European and Asian gas prices are at an all-time high, the oil price is at a three-year high, and…
