(19 October 2019, AFR, p33, Sarah Turner, Reporter) ‘Profit expectations and dealmaking helped lift the Australian market in a week where Latitude’s IPO collapsed and high-profile technology firms Afterpay and WiseTech came under significant selling pressure. “The big news was the Latitude float,” said Hugh Dive at Atlas Funds Management. Latitude abandoned its $3.2 billion … Continue reading
(19 October 2019, AFR, p15, Hans van Leeuwen, Europe correspondent) ‘London | In a hasty cabinet meeting on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told his ministers that Britain was like the Tim Robbins character in the ’90s movie The Shawshank Redemption. In the film’s memorable escape sequence, Robbins engineers an unlikely route out … Continue reading
(19 October 2019, AFR, p13, Michael Smith, China Correspondent) ‘Shenzhen | China’s economy grew at a weaker-than-expected 6 per cent in the third quarter as Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and a contracting manufacturing sector saw gross domestic product scrape in at the bottom end of the government’s target and hit a fresh 30-year low. While … Continue reading
(19 October 2019, AFR, p12, Hans van Leeuwen, Europe correspondent) ‘London | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Saturday attempt to cajole his Parliament into voting for his newly minted Brexit deal, facing the prospect that only a few votes in the 650-seat chamber separate stunning victory from inglorious defeat.’ Read more at AFR.com … Continue reading
(19 October 2019, AFR, p8, Tom McIlroy, Political reporter) ‘Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the Coalition will continue to send cash to drought-affected communities in eastern Australia, promising to do more as ongoing dry hurts the federal budget. The government expects the drought will reduce GDP by at least 0.25 per cent through reductions in … Continue reading
(18 October 2019, The Age, Business, p24, By David Scutt and Reuters) ‘The five-day rally on the ASX came to a shuddering halt on Thursday, driven by losses across all sectors except energy. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.8 per cent to 6684.7, finishing the day near its session lows. The selloff accelerated midway through … Continue reading
(18 October 2019, AFR, p5, Matthew Cranston and Jonathan Shapiro) ‘A lower unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent in September has slashed the chances of a back-to back interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank in November and pushed the Australian dollar back close to US68¢. The economy added 14,700 new jobs last month after … Continue reading
(18 October 2019, AFR, p4, Matthew Cranston) ‘Reserve Bank deputy governor Guy Debelle said a shortfall in housing supply was “quite likely” in the foreseeable future and that would trigger a “larger price response” in property values. Dr Debelle said demand for housing would continue to grow and 2020 could be the year construction bottoms … Continue reading
(17 October 2019, AFR, p34, Nick Lenaghan, Property Editor) ‘Steady improvement in the Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide office markets has sent the national vacancy rate a full percentage point lower to 8.1 per cent in the past year. Vacancy rates in the three resource sector-focused states tightened further over the third quarter, according to figures … Continue reading
(17 October 2019, AFR, p28, Michael Bleby, Senior Reporter) ‘Retail landlords face the prospect of more tenants going to the wall as online sales grow faster than many retailers can reconfigure their sites to respond, rendering stores unprofitable and making them likely to close, consultancy EY warns. Online will account for 19 per cent of … Continue reading
(17 October 2019, AFR, p24, Jonathan Shapiro, Senior Reporter) ‘The share market may be at or around all-time highs. Yet brokers and fund managers aren’t exactly revelling in the excess and enthusiasm one might expect after a decade-long bull market. Why is that so? Why is the share market no longer an indicator of welfare … Continue reading
(17 October 2019, AFR, p24, William McInnes, Reporter) ‘Australian shares rose for a fifth straight session on Wednesday as positive sentiment from US earnings and Brexit bucked a downgrade to domestic and global growth by the International Monetary Fund. The S&P/ASX 200 advanced 84.5 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 6736.5, recording its best session … Continue reading
(17 October 2019, AFR, p23, Martin Wolf, Columnist) ‘These are fragile times. Some of that reflects the wave of populist nationalism that is now sweeping across high-income countries. But some of it reflects sterile orthodoxy, writes the FT’s Martin Wolf.’ <snipped…> ‘Joint research by the Brookings Institution and Financial Times is bleaker still, describing our … Continue reading
(!6 October 2019, AFR, p1, John Kehoe, Senior Writer) ‘Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared his budget surplus plan will not be “spooked” by international events, as the International Monetary Fund slashed Australia’s economic growth forecast to just 1.7 per cent and advised world governments to unleash a spending stimulus. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook warned … Continue reading
(16 October 2019, The Age, Business, p31, By Lucy Battersby) ‘Unexpected profit warnings from consumer-facing companies led to dramatic falls on the stock market on Tuesday with Southern Cross Austereo dropping 18.6 per cent on a weak advertising market and Nick Scali furniture falling nearly 14 per cent due to fewer customers and lower sales. … Continue reading
(16 October 2019, AFR, p32, Nila Sweeney, Reporter) ‘Rental markets have weakened during the past three months as demand struggles to soak up the excess supply created by high investor activity during the recent housing boom, the latest CoreLogic Quarterly Rental Review shows. Nationally, rental rates dropped 0.3 per cent over the September quarter, reversing … Continue reading
(16 October 2019, AFR, p29, Larry Schlesinger, Reporter) ‘The slump in residential construction activity and consumer confidence about buying off the plan has weakened pay conditions in the property industry, with architects the first to feel the pain, according to the latest Avdiev Property Remuneration Report. “Too many architects and graduates and too few projects,” … Continue reading
(16 October 2019, AFR, p1, Sue Mitchell and Natasha Gillezeau) ‘Investors in stocks exposed to discretionary spending are bracing for a series of profit warnings amid growing evidence record low interest rates and tax cuts have failed to convince shoppers to pry open their wallets. The consumer malaise struck furniture retailer Nick Scali and radio … Continue reading
(15 October 2019, AFR, p42, Nupur Anan and Swati Bhat) ‘India might have thought the worst of a bad loans crisis was past, but a severe cash crunch in the real estate industry could augur fresh strife for its banks. A slump in the residential property market is leaving many builders struggling to repay loans … Continue reading
(15 October 2019, AFR, p38, Nila Sweeney, Reporter) ‘Sixty-eight Australian suburbs have surged past the million-dollar mark in the past three months after buyer confidence returned following the Coalition’s federal election victory and the RBA began cutting interest rates in June. The rise in million-dollar localities represents a 0.80 per cent increase in the number … Continue reading
(15 October 2019, AFR, p33, Larry Schlesinger, Reporter) ‘Home Consortium boss David Di Pilla is keen to distinguish the freshly floated retail landlord from its most obvious rival, listed large-format player Aventus, after its shares surged on debut to defy the retail gloom in some quarters. Trading under the ticker HMC, shares ended the day … Continue reading
(15 October 2019, AFR, p29, William McInnes) ‘Aviva Investors are placing the likelihood of a global recession in the next 18 months at one in three, saying the uncertainty coming from the trade war is weighing major economies. UK-based Aviva manages £337 billion ($625 billion) globally and say global growth has now reached its weakest … Continue reading
(15 October 2019, AFR, p15, Sue Mitchell, Senior Reporter) ‘The clothing industry is facing a long-term structural decline as consumers with ‘too much stuff’ cut back on the number of new outfits they buy, even as prices fall. Consumers have been buying clothes in ever-increasing quantities over the past 20 years as fast-fashion retailers such … Continue reading
(15 October 2019, AFR, p12, John Geddie and Joe Brock) ‘Singapore | Singapore’s central bank eased monetary policy for the first time in three years on Monday, as widely expected, with the city-state’s bellwether economy narrowly dodging recession. Singapore – which is due to hold an election within months – has like other trade-reliant Asian … Continue reading
(14 October 2019, AFR, p33, Su-Lin Tan, Reporter) ‘Rental vacancies in Sydney dropped to 2.9 per cent, the lowest in a year, led by areas such as Chatswood, Auburn and Arndell Park, the latest REINSW Residential Vacancy Rate Report shows. September’s decline from 3.6 per cent in August brought the city-wide level below 3 per … Continue reading
(14 October 2019, AFR, p5, Michael Bleby, Senior Reporter) ‘Buyers taking out home loans at the fastest pace in three years pushed auction clearance rates back up to pre-football final levels, with four out of every five homes auctioned sold in Sydney on the weekend. The preliminary clearance rate in the NSW capital rose to … Continue reading
(14 October 2019, AFR, p5, Matthew Cranston, Economics correspondent) ‘Fears of a business investment strike have been exaggerated – spending is at more than twice the level during the 1990s recession, new analysis from Deloitte Access Economic shows. Deloitte’s latest business outlook highlights that investment as a percentage of GDP in real terms “points to … Continue reading
(14 October 2019, The Age, p4, By Shane Wright) ‘The Australian economy is gently improving despite domestic problems, but falling interest rates are creating future housing affordability hurdles in Sydney and Melbourne that will hit young people, one of the nation’s chief economic forecasters has warned. Deloitte Access Economics, in its quarterly update on the … Continue reading
(12 October 2019 (AEST), Wall Street Journal online, By Gunjan Banerji) ‘U.S. stocks soared Friday on progress in the trade talks between the U.S. and China, helping the S&P 500 break a three-week losing streak. Major stock indexes jumped as President Trump offered an upbeat assessment of trade talks and the U.S. said it had … Continue reading
(12 October 2019, AFR, p32, William McInnes) ‘Market-based measures of the risk of a US recession faded this week, but global indicators are painting a bleaker picture of the rest of the world, supporting the inference that the Germany economy is already in recession. Morgan Stanley’s recession indicator, which calculates the probability the US economy … Continue reading
