Federal Budget: Short & longer-term goals

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Federal Budget preview Kinder, gentler Budget? The Federal Budget will be focussed on the short-term imperative of rebuilding confidence and the longer-term goal of increasing participation in the workforce. In... Read more continue reading

Weekly market update – week ending 8 May, 2015

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Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares had a rough week on the back of a continuation of the global bond sell-off, some soft US data, comments... Read more continue reading

Jobs figures – employment falls in April

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Labour Force – April 2015 Employment fell by by a small 2.9k in April following an upwardly revised 48.1k lift in March (previously reported as +37.7k). The fall in employment... Read more continue reading

Hours worked lifts at the fastest pace in four years

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Labour force Jobs losses: Employment fell by 2,900 in April after rising by a revised 48,200 in March (previously estimated at a 37,700 gain in jobs). Full-time jobs fell by... Read more continue reading

The RBA cuts the cash rate to a new record low

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Key points The RBA’s latest rate cut along with downwards pressure on the value of the $A should help Australian economic growth pick up to around trend next year. While... Read more continue reading

Retail lift; Beer consumption at 68-year low

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Retail Trade; New Home Sales; Alcohol Consumption Retail trade grew: Sales rose for the tenth straight month, up by 0.3 per cent in March after rising by 0.7 per cent... Read more continue reading

High-rise Australia; Job ads up again

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Inflation gauge, Building approvals, Job Ads; Weekly petrol price Hiring lifts: Job advertisements rose by 2.3 per cent in April – the 10th gain in 11 months. Record dwelling approvals:... Read more continue reading

Weekly market update – week ending 1 May, 2015

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Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares had a soft weak reflecting a combination of somewhat messy economic data, uncertainty about the Fed and a backup in... Read more continue reading

Healthy home prices; Margin expansion

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Home Value Index; Producer Prices; Performance of Manufacturing Home prices lift: The CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index of capital city home prices rose by 0.8 per cent in April... Read more continue reading

Bracket creep: The gift that keeps giving

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Taxation Statistics 2012/13 Fewer taxpayers: According to data from the Australian Tax Office, the number of individual taxpayers fell by 3.3 per cent in 2012/13 while non-taxable individuals rose by... Read more continue reading