Perfect storm hits trade accounts; Flat retail

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Retail Trade; International Trade Flat retail trade: Sales were flat in April after ten prior months of gains. Annual spending growth eased from 4.4 per cent to 4.1 per cent,... Read more continue reading

The Australian economy – seven reasons not to be too gloomy

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Key points Australian economic growth came in at a stronger than expected 0.9% in the March quarter, but remains sub-par on an annual basis at 2.3% and demand remains very... Read more continue reading

Stronger, broad-based economic growth

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National accounts Firmer growth: The Australian economy grew by 0.9 per cent in the March quarter after a 0.5 per cent increase in the December quarter. Forecasts had centred on... Read more continue reading

Reserve Bank mulls the next move

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Reserve Bank Board meeting The cash rate has been left at a record low of 2.00 per cent. The Reserve Bank hasn’t provided any guidance on future interest rate changes.... Read more continue reading

Dust off the history books – it’s back to the past to control the property cycle

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Key points In response to pressure from APRA, lenders are starting to tighten lending conditions to property investors. This is designed to slow property investor lending, particularly into the strong... Read more continue reading

Biggest fall in business investment in 5½ years

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Business investment Softer investment: New business spending on buildings or equipment fell by 4.4 per cent in the March quarter – the biggest fall since September quarter 2009. Expected business... Read more continue reading

2015 a moderate year for global markets, USA an exception

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Global economies seem set for another year of moderate growth, with the exception of USA, which is likely to outperform its global peers in 2015, says investment manager George Lucas,... Read more continue reading

Weekly market update – week ending 22 May, 2015

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Investment markets and key developments over the past week Global share markets mostly rose over the last week as mixed US economic data was seen delaying Fed hikes, an ECB... Read more continue reading

Where will returns come from? – the constrained medium term return outlook

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Key points Low investment yields from most major asset classes mean the medium term return outlook remains constrained. For example, 7 to 7.5% pa for a diversified mix of assets,... Read more continue reading

Weekly market update – week ending May 15, 2015

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Investment markets and key developments over the past week While the bond sell off continued over the past week it showed signs of stabilising and this helped shares a bit.... Read more continue reading