Global economy looking a little less scary

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The past few weeks have been interesting. Sovereign rating downgrades in Europe have intensified. The World Bank and now the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have slashed their growth forecasts for... Read more continue reading

Jobs: the winners & losers

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The Hunter region of NSW had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation over 2011 averaging 2.3 per cent while the Far North of Queensland had the highest jobless rate,... Read more continue reading

Weekly market & economic update

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The past week saw share markets and other risk related trades supported by a combination of favourable economic data in the US and Europe, good profit results in the US... Read more continue reading

Lowest inflation reading in 3 years

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The Consumer Price Index – the main measure of inflation in Australia – was unchanged in the December quarter. It was the lowest quarterly inflation reading for three years. In... Read more continue reading

Investing for the long haul

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Investors in commonly-held shares are still in front…despite a raft of tumultuous events over the past 13 years, Mum and Dad shareholders are still in front. Returns on the CommSec... Read more continue reading

Weekly economic & market update

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Despite ratings downgrades across the Euro-zone, a sharp downgrade to the World Bank’s 2012 global growth forecast (from 3.6% to 2.5%) and news that the IMF is seeking to increase... Read more continue reading

State of the States – January 2012

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How are Australia’s states and territories performing? Each quarter CommSec attempts to find out by analysing eight key indicators: economic growth retail spending equipment investment unemployment, construction work done population... Read more continue reading

Weakest job market in 20 years

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Employment fell by 29,300 in December – the biggest decline in eight months. Economists had expected a 10,000 lift in jobs. It was the second consecutive fall in jobs and... Read more continue reading

What will it take to cheer up Aussie consumers?

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Aussie consumers are still moderately pessimistic…the Westpac/Melbourne Institute index of consumer confidence rose by 2.4 per cent in January to a reading of 97.1 and sentiment levels are still down 7.2... Read more continue reading

China successfully engineers ‘soft landing’

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Chinese economic data was generally firmer than expected. The Chinese economy grew at an 8.9 per cent annual rate in the December quarter (consensus 8.7 per cent) down from 9.1... Read more continue reading