"Intelligent Insight"
Join us at 8pm Sydney time for our regular live event this week we will be looking at the latest ructions in Crypto, and what we can learn from it, as well as how Central Bank Digital Currencies are playing into the argument.
If one Bitcoin always worth one Bitcoin, how does the concept of “trust” play into the evolution of digital finance?
The latest from the REINZ Home Price Series, with some interesting twists, but still looking weaker in terms of sales volumes, longer days on markets and some compositional change as illustrated by the differences between the HPI Index and Median Prices.
With more rate rises expected, and higher fixed rates ahead, expect more weakness.
https://www.reinz.co.nz/residential-property-data-gallery
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Monday ended up a down day on Wall Street ‘s main indexes ended lower on Monday, as investors digested comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials about plans for interest rate hikes.
Losses accelerated toward the end of the up-and-down session, with focus turning to Tuesday’s producer price index report and markets highly sensitive to inflation data. real estate and discretionary sectors leading broad declines.
The Fed Outings included Christopher Waller on Sunday who said the Fed may consider slowing the pace of increases at its next meeting but that should not be seen as a “softening” in its commitment to lower inflation. Monetary policy tightening “isn’t ending in the next meeting or two”, and Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard who signalled that the central bank would likely soon slow its interest rates hikes but added that there still was “additional work to do on raising rates.”
“There is still a sensitivity to Fed speak… One was a little hawkish, one was a little dovish,” said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp.
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
My latest chat with our Property Insider, as prices in NSW get a kick-up from the stamp duty changes, China stops more migration and auctions are not what they seem.
https://www.ribbonproperty.com.au/
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
As the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange ricochets through the industry, this has not been a good week for Bitcoin and the Crypto community more generally.
And now we are beginning to see arguments emerging suggesting first that Bitcoin is not the same a Crypto, and second, we see Digital asset exchanges rushing to reassure clients that their funds are safe.
For example, Coinbase sent an email to customers explaining “how Coinbase’s business is different and ultimately better protects” customer accounts and assets. Yet the biggest crypto exchange Binance’s chief executive warned last week of the potential for a “cascading” crisis in the crypto sector in the wake of FTX’s failure, which he said could resemble the 2008 global financial crisis.
The total value of Crypto including Bitcoin fell again to around $940 billion US dollars, compared with a peak of over 3 trillion dollars. So Crypto is under the microscope as never before.
https://youtu.be/lOjdw5l_Ngg – DFA Live Tuesday 15th Nov 2022
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
I caught up with Senator Rennick (LNP Queensland) after his recent outings in Senate Estimates and his speech on Superannuation. We explored the broader economic issues which we face, and why we need some different approaches from our regulators and the RBA.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Another extract from the recent Senate Estimates with the RBA. This on consolidates Nick McKim’s questions about inflation, and what is driving it – and whether higher interest rates cause more inflation!
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Another round of price reductions from the Property Portals thanks to Cookie’s research, which shows that prices are on the slide now, and quite fast.
We compare the falls with our Core Market Model data and find some interesting correlations.
This is not a statistically robust piece of analysis, but it does talk to the general trends, as higher interest rates hit home, and sales momentum eases.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
We look at the latest bank branch closures, which are accelerating, thanks to Dale Webster’s analysis at The Regional.
https://www.theregional.com.au/
She recently published an open letter to The Attorney General Mark Dreyfus about the scandal of APRA’s Points of Presence Database.
https://www.theregional.com.au/post/open-letter-to-the-attorney-general-mark-dreyfus
And we discuss an alternative to the Major Banks who are closing outlets to secure profits for shareholders – the Customer Owned Banks. There are nearly 60 across the country focused on their members (customers) offering lower risk, more competitive banking services, including local branches.
https://www.customerownedbanking.asn.au/
You can find a list of local members here: https://www.customerownedbanking.asn.au/about-coba/list-of-our-members
So, I recommend switching to these community banks, away from the Majors. Funnily enough often the COBA banks offer better rates, and service than the others, and have the highest customer satisfaction!
Finally, digital is fine until the power goes out, and cash is still needed to maintain viable and dynamic local communities!
The latest edition of our finance and property news digest with a distinctively Australian flavour.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Another in our series of Senate Estimate shorts, this one where Senator Rennick asks about the Australian Gold held by the Bank of England in their vaults.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/