"Intelligent Insight"
My latest Friday afternoon chat with Journalist Tarric Brooker about economics, monetary police and social trends.
His charts are available to view at https://avidcom.substack.com/p/charts-that-matter-5th-august-2022
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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/
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.
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants. If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you. Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side. Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make. Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest. Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
I caught up with Steve Mickenbecker from Canstar to pick over the rate changes this week, as CBA led the charge to lift mortgage rates 0.5%.
Importantly, there are steps household should be taking to minimise the adverse impact of the rate changes.
https://www.canstar.com.au/
Steve Mickenbecker is in Canstar’s Group Executive Team, bringing more than 30 years of experience in the Australian financial services industry. As a financial commentator for Canstar, Steve enjoys sharing his expertise across topics such as home loans, superannuation, insurance, mortgages, banking, credit cards, investment, budgeting, money management and more.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
I was joined by Sam Kerr from Nucleus Wealth as we discuss the important changes to Superannuation. You can see Sam’s article on this here:
The latest edition of our finance and property news digest with a distinctively Australian flavour.
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A segment broadcast Tuesday night after the RBA rate hike on 2nd August, as I discuss the implications of the rises on ABC Illawarra.
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Interesting data from Statistics New Zealand today on employment and wages today. They show that New Zealand unemployment unexpectedly rose from a record low in the second quarter but wages rose at the fastest pace in 14 years – though still well below inflation – suggesting the central bank may need to keep raising interest rates aggressively to tame inflation.
The jobless rate climbed to 3.3% from 3.2% in the first quarter, which was the lowest level since records began in 1986. Economists expected a decline to 3.1%. Employment was unchanged from the previous three months. The underutilisation rate was 9.2 percent, compared to 9.3 percent in the March 2022 quarter.
Wage inflation, measured by the labour cost index (LCI), was 3.4 percent in the year ended June 2022, the fastest since 2008 and up from 3.0 percent in the year ended March 2022, while average ordinary time hourly earnings rose 6.4 percent. While wages have lifted over the past year, annual consumer price inflation has exceeded annual wage inflation over the same period. The consumers price index (CPI) increased 7.3 percent in the year ended June 2022.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants. If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you. Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side. Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make. Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
Join us for a live discussion about the current state of economics and politics, with a focus on the busted energy markets with David Llewelln-Smith Chief Strategist at @NucleusWealth and founding publisher and editor for @Macro_business. You can ask a question live.
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A quick review of the RBA cash hike today, and the implications. Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Wall Street ended lower after a choppy session on Monday, with declines in Exxon Mobil and other energy companies weighing against gains in Boeing as investors digested the U.S. stock market’s biggest monthly gains in two years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.14%, or 46 points, the Nasdaq was down 0.2%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.3%.
Energy fell more than 2% to lead the broader market lower, pressured by a nearly 5% slump in oil prices after the latest data pointing to weakness in the Chinese housing market and factory activity stoked fresh recession concerns.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to visit Taiwan on Tuesday. China warned that its military would never “sit idly by” if she visited the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.
“Increased recession fears since the release of our Mid-year outlook have prompted substantial revisions to global growth,” Morgan Stanley said, highlighting the “lack of a bounce-back in China” as one of the key drivers. The bank now sees global growth at 2.4%Y, 50 basis points lower than its forecast in May.
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