Martin North – Page 107 – Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Explosive Discussions within Federal Parliament

This week Adams went to Canberra in a whirlwind sweep of the Federal Parliament to discuss a variety of topics. Adams had the opportunity to speak to people within the Coalition, Labor, the UAP and One Nation.

Adams had a number of very frank conversations about the nature of Australia’s economic problems. In total, Adams had more than a dozen meetings over the course of 2 days with political figures and the media.

Australia is in the biggest economic mess since becoming a country. Politics is stopping sensible discussion of our national problems and the considering of the correct policy solutions. So in fear of the Australian people, politicians believe that as a community, the debt bubble is not able to be discussed.

The position of some in Parliament is that the unvarnished truth and common sense is beyond the Australian people. Accordingly, democracy is the problem. This was foretold centuries ago.

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Up Is Down, And Down Is Up!

In this week’s market review, we examine the curious relationship between updated economic data, and the markets. And I conclude, Up is Down.

We start with the US markets, look across Europe and Asia, and end in Australia, as well as covering the latest in Oil and Metals, and a quick look at Crypto.

It appears equity traders have apparently gotten bored waiting for higher interest rates to make their presence known in the economy despite increasingly thorny warnings from the Federal Reserve, and the shockingly frank revelation from the Bank of England on Thursday that Recession is coming.

The focus rather has been on celebrating buoyant earnings and economic reports. The S&P 500’s performance over the last five days was virtually flat compared with the previous two weeks.

The central bank is “nowhere near” being almost done cracking down on inflation, San Francisco’s Mary Daly said. Cleveland’s Loretta Mester is looking for persuasive evidence price pressures are moderating and Chicago’s Charles Evans said policy makers were a few reports away from seeing the kind of data that would make them think they’re on the right track. “The market is basically saying to the Fed, ‘You’re not going to have to go as far as you think you do,’ and also, ‘You might have to start reversing course much sooner than you think you have to,’” Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management, said “Is it sustainable in the face of a Fed that appears to be hell-bent on not stopping not stopping?”

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Recession, Here We Come!

The Bank of England is the latest central bank to raise interest rates by at least 50 basis points in one go this year as it unleashed its biggest interest-rate hike in 27 years and warned the UK is heading for more than a year of recession under the weight of soaring inflation.

The half-point increase to 1.75% was backed by eight of the bank’s nine policy makers, who also kept up a pledge to act forcefully again in the future if needed, potentially putting similar hikes on the table for coming meetings.

They sheeted much of the inflation to ultra-high energy costs, following on from gas prices which have been driven higher by the Ukraine situation. Inflationary pressures have “intensified significantly,” the BOE said. “The latest rise in gas prices has led to another significant deterioration in the outlook for activity.”

The BOE lifted its forecast for the peak of inflation to 13.3% in October amid that surge in gas prices, and warned that price gains will remain elevated throughout 2023. That will sharpen a cost-of-living crisis that will see real disposable incomes fall more than at any time in around 60 years. Even after billions of pounds of government support for struggling households, families are set to be around 5% worse off by the end of 2023 with incomes falling both this year and next.

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

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Watch Out NZ, Here Comes 4%…

New Zealand economists are firming on the Reserve Bank lifting the cash rate to 4% – considerably higher than recently expected, and the latest data on wages and employment, they say provide more of a platform to achieve this target. So more pain for many, including recent mortgage holders. Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Held Out To Dry By The Powerful!

The head of the United Nations has accused oil and gas companies of “grotesque greed” and urged every government to impose a windfall tax on their “immoral” record profits. António Guterres, UN secretary-general, said money made “on the backs of the poorest” must be returned to the most vulnerable households just days after BP and Shell reported massive profits in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.

Tony Wood, the head of the energy program at the Grattan Institute in an opinion piece in the AFR, says that the latest, six-monthly Gas Inquiry Report released on Monday by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) does not go far enough. The findings of the latest Gas Inquiry Report make for depressing reading. The concerns identified are severely harming both gas and electricity consumers, and we have not yet seen the worst.

We covered this report in an earlier show, and also discussed it last Tuesday on our live show with David Llewellyn Smith. Put simply the Energy cartel are taking Australians to the cleaners, and making excess profits in the process – largely war-induced thanks the Russia Ukraine situation. 97% of the Gas conglomerates are offshore owned, and so the excess profits are going offshore, whilst crippling the local economy, businesses and households.

Tony Wood makes the point that the stated objective of Australia’s national gas market is to supply natural gas services for the long-term interests of consumers. But this is simply not the market described in the latest ACCC report.