What will it take to cheer up Aussie consumers?

From

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

continue reading

China successfully engineers ‘soft landing’

From

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

continue reading

2012 and beyond….a list of lists

From

I was determined that after writing endlessly about Europe last year that my first note this year would not be on Europe. And it isn’t (well mostly not anyway). Rather

continue reading

Weekly market & economic update

From

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) first monetary policy meeting for 2012 saw no significant changes with interest rates staying on hold at 1.0%. There were some notable comments on Europe’s

continue reading

Job vacancies slide to 18-month lows

From

Job vacancies fell by 3.3 per cent in the December quarter (November reference month) to 181,000 vacancies – marking the lowest result in 18 months. Across the sectors the bulk

continue reading

Weekly economic & market update

From

Europe’s debt debacle has continued into 2012 with mixed responses in global share markets this week. For the year’s opening, European shares have ranged between the “robust” with German shares

continue reading

Weekly economic and market update

From

The past week has seen the usual post summit let down in Europe with general scepticism regarding whether the latest EU summit will achieve much in terms of stabilising Europe’s

continue reading

2011 in review and looking toward 2012…should we be scared?

From

2011 has been a year full of disasters with floods, earthquakes, civil wars in the Middle East, and of course public debt woes in Europe and the US. Fears of

continue reading

Weekly market & economic update

From

The past week has seen investors switch back to “risk on” in a big way thanks to talk of a fast tracked fiscal union in the Euro zone which will

continue reading

Oliver’s Insights: why the RBA should cut rates again

From

After the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate cut a month ago, the general consensus was there was little urgency for the RBA to move again. The most likely outcome seemed

continue reading