The Great Sendai Earthquake of 2011

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Perspectives At 2.46pm on Friday March 11, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale occurred off the north east coast of Japan near Sendai, triggering a 10 metre tsunami

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning March 13 2011

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The big picture One of the biggest issues currently is rising food prices. Food prices began rising in the second half of 2010 and hit record highs in January. The

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The Aussie Economy – The Big Picture

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Economic Perspectives A host of economic figures have been released over the past week including the latest national accounts data – the most comprehensive assessment of the Australian economy. So

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The inventories puzzle solved

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Economic Perspectives The GDP (economic growth) figures were released last week. And the question we are getting asked most is what is the story with inventories – that is, unsold

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning March 6 2011

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The big picture The Reserve Bank Governor isn’t one to gloat. But you can certainly sense from the latest interest rate decision that Glenn Stevens is pretty pleased with the

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Earnings season: Headwinds aplenty

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Corporate profit season The profit-reporting season has largely concluded, although there are a small number of ASX 200 companies to report. CommSec has assessed the results of the 120 companies

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Smaller retailers hit by consumer strike

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Retail trade; Performance of Manufacturing; BOP Retail spending grew by 0.4 per cent in January – in line with the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator which was released two weeks

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning February 27 2011

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The big picture The role of a business economist is to educate, inform and occasionally entertain. But most people merely want business economists to explain what key issues mean in

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Building slumps; but renovations in vogue

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Construction work done Construction work done rose by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter, due solely to higher engineering activity. Residential building fell by 1.1 per cent in the

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Goldilocks wages; RBA Governor caution

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Labour Price Index; RBA Governor speech Wages rose by 1.0 per cent in the December quarter, slightly above market expectations. In annual terms wages are up 3.9 per cent on

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