Manufacturing contraction… again

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Performance of Manufacturing The Performance of Manufacturing index fell from 51.1 to 47.9 in March – marking the sixth contraction in the sector in the space of seven months Key

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning March 27 2011

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The big picture There is an old adage in economics – there are lies, damned lies and statistics. And when it comes to the issue of housing valuations and affordability,

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning April 3 2011

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The big picture The Reserve Bank Board meets again on Tuesday to decide interest rate settings. But this month – as was the case last month – there is no

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House prices slide to near 2-year lows

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House Prices Capital city home prices were unchanged in seasonally adjusted terms in February after a 1.5 per cent slide in the prior month according to the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic

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Record migration slump dampens population growth

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Population Australia’s population grew by 345,500 people over the year to September. Population growth increased by 1.57 per cent over the past year – the weakest growth rate in four

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Aussie equities underperform global peers

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Sharemarket Insights The Australian sharemarket has significantly underperformed other major overseas markets this financial year. Some of the factors that have led to this under-performance include higher domestic interest rates,

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Selling an SME business – who will buy?

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Owners of Australian companies worth up to $100 million are being sold short because their owners and operators cannot find appropriate buyers, according to Linkara Capital founder, Lindsay Karathanassis. “We

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$US breaking down, $A breaking higher

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Key points The $A is continuing to push further above parity against the $US, reaching a 29 year high. This reflects a combination of strong commodity prices, $US weakness and

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Budget deficit soars to near record high

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Federal budget The underlying budget deficit deteriorated in January and now stands just shy of record highs. In the 12- months to January, the budget deficit totalled $62.3 billion, an

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Price war: Petrol selling below cost price

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Weekly Petrol Price According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average Australian price of unleaded petrol fell by 0.2 cents per litre to 143.0 cents a litre in

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