Home loans slump to decade lows

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Housing finance; Weekly Petrol Price; New Car Sales The number of new owner-occupier housing loans fell by 1.5 per cent to 44,968 new commitments –marking the lowest result since March

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CommSec Economic Insights: Fruit prices plunge; Manufacturing shrinks; $A soars

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Weekly petrol prices; TD Securities monthly inflation gauge Inflationary pressures ease. The TD Securities-Melbourne Institute monthly inflation gauge rose by 0.3 per cent in April or 3.6 per cent over the

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S&P Fund Services Rates North Protected Retirement Guarantee As 'Strong'

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S&P Fund Services has assigned its ‘Strong’ rating to the North Protected Retirement Guarantee (PRG). The rating reflects our view that the product is the superior guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit

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Lloyds International: A global perspective on the local economy

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Lloyds chief economist on inflation, interest rates and the outlook for the Australian economy x The Australian economy will continue to grow rapidly in 2011 buoyed by the continuing resources

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning April 10 2011

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Upcoming economic and financial market events  The big picture One of the sleeper issues at present is population growth. The latest data showed that Australia’s population grew by 1.6 per

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More to risk than market volatility

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Ongoing concerns by investors about market volatility may mean they are ignoring other critical investment risks which can have a major impact on their retirement income, says Mr Cameron Dickman,

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Lonsec releases its Large Cap Australian Equity Sector Review

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Lonsec’s review of the Large Cap Australian Equity Fund sector encompassed 36 active funds within the peer group considered “mainstream” funds. Of these, 10 attained Lonsec’s top rating, Highly Recommended,

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Rising oil prices – what is the tipping point for growth?

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Key points Global oil prices remain under upward pressure from turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa. This will dampen global growth and add to the financial pressure on

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Key Global Investor Themes for Next 12 – 18 Months

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Chinese inflation – should lead to a lower $A Emerging markets inflation European debt woes not really resolved US economy may surprise on the upside, largely due US multinationals International

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What to look for now in global equities

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As the world keeps changing, so does the way you should look for investment opportunities around the globe. You do not always have to invest directly in emerging markets to

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