Back in the 2008/2009 when home prices in parts of Europe and the United States were tumbling there were plenty of “experts” saying Australian house prices would also come crashing down. But alas the residential property market remained fairly robust during the global financial crisis and the experts who predicted a crash in property prices were wrong.
Entries Categorised as 'Economy'
Why the Ken Henry taxation review will achieve little.
January 26th, 2010 · 14 Comments
For some time now investors and the public in general have been drip fed details of what might or might not be included in grand sounding “Australia’s Future Tax System Review”. Now that the report has been handed over to Wayne Swan and the Government it might be tempting for us to think that we will see sweeping changes to Australia’s tax system, but I am here to tell you that little will happen and here’s why.
When the Chinese economy slows, Australia’s may tumble.
January 21st, 2010 · 8 Comments
All things considered 2009 was not a bad year for the Australian economy and certainly a good year for the Australian stock market. Now with the worst of the global financial crisis apparently behind us all should be well in 2010 correct? Well maybe, China willing, but where others see blue skies ahead for the economy I see storm clouds.
Shareswatch Australia Blog: hits & misses of 2009
January 8th, 2010 · 2 Comments
It is time once again to put my ramblings, rants and ruminations for the previous 12 months under the spotlight. Did I correctly spot any stock market or economic trends or should I be standing in the corner with the dunce cap on for most of 2010?
ASX stocks, the Baltic Dry Index & the Copenhagen Circus.
December 17th, 2009 · 5 Comments
Both the ASX All Ordinaries and S&P/ASX 200 have been basically moving sideways now since September and although the market may seem to be drifting, it is actually reflecting fairly accurately the state of the Australian economy. For despite what some finance journalists seem to believe, the Australian economy will not be able to surge ahead simply because the Chinese are stimulating their domestic economy.
Exports down, imports up and an economy sliding backwards.
December 9th, 2009 · 9 Comments
Some time ago I wrote that we would better served by having a Hobbit look after the Australian economy than the RBA, Treasury & Government and recent events have made this idea look particularly attractive. For at present we have the RBA raising rates, the Government spending and the Treasury appears to be unsure what is happening.
Trying to take in the big picture global economic view.
November 17th, 2009 · 4 Comments
When it is hard to make sense of what is going on with the global economy I feel it is often best to try and remove the noise created by endless stock market reports, economic surveys, financial forecasts etc. and try and focus on facts not fiction. It also helps to put aside people’s opinions (including our own), relax and calmly assess what the data is really telling us, as opposed to trying to use this data to predict the future.
Economic mixed signals, the ASX All Ords & gold prices.
November 11th, 2009 · 22 Comments
Despite how convincing market experts appear on television or how cleverly they put pen to paper, the truth is that nobody knows for sure how the global economy will perform next year. For every positive sign or trend there is a worrying one, and despite the Dow Jones having some strong days recently the fact is the U.S. economy is still in bad shape.
Australia’s Balance of Trade, the Funky Four & the ASX All Ordinaries.
November 6th, 2009 · 3 Comments
Have you noticed of late how the Australian stock market is just not listening to the Reserve Bank’s Glenn Stevens? No matter how optimistic the RBA Governor sounds the ASX All Ords refuses to surge past 5000, so what is happening? Are investors wrong about the state of the Australian economy and simply not picking up on the positive economic indicators the RBA is apparently seeing?
GDP growth does not equal a quality Australian economy.
November 3rd, 2009 · 7 Comments
It would be easy to get the impression by listening to the Government, the Reserve Bank, the Treasury, financial journalists and many economists that it is undeniably good if Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expands, but is that entirely correct? Is there such as thing as bad GDP growth?
The forgotten economic giant: The European Union.
November 1st, 2009 · 3 Comments
In the frenzy to churn out China growth stories most financial and business journalists in Australia appear to live in a world where the European Union either no longer exists or does not matter. I must admit I also do not pay enough attention to European economic data, so today I will have a quick look at the European Union and outline why I believe we should all pay more attention to developments on the other side of the planet.
Ken Henry and his tax review: should we be worried?
October 6th, 2009 · 111 Comments
Back in May 2008, when times were good and the inflation genie was free, the Government announced that a review of Australia’s tax system would be undertaken. But that was before the global financial crisis struck and a lot has changed since then, so should we be worried about what recommendations the review panel will make?
A slow global recovery, the Australian economy & the stock market.
October 2nd, 2009 · 12 Comments
If you were to believe the various ramblings of Kevin Rudd, Wayne Swan, Glenn Stevens and Ken Henry, then you would be under the impression that the Australian economy is about to power ahead in 2010. But if the IMF expects global growth to be slow, why would Australia be set to do any better?
Australian stocks, house prices & the economy in September 2010
September 23rd, 2009 · 60 Comments
One year has now passed since the failure of Lehman Brothers sent global financial markets plunging and only recently has it felt that the global economy may finally be entering a period of recovery. But will conditions be better or worse in 12 months? Will house prices be higher or lower and where will Australian stocks be in September 2010?
The Baltic Dry Index, exchange rates & liquid fuels consumption.
September 18th, 2009 · 4 Comments
Over the past few weeks most of the economic news from Australia’s major trading partners has been fairly good. As a result the Australian stock market has continued to rise along with markets in Europe, Asia and the United States. But before we get too carried away it is probably a good idea to look beyond stock prices in order to check how the global economy is really faring.
Tough times ahead for Australian economy & businesses.
September 8th, 2009 · 3 Comments
According to many reports in the media Australia has escaped a technical recession and the nations future is so bright that we will all have to wear shades. But despite the somewhat upbeat business and financial news of late the reality is that the next few years are going to be very challenging for Australian companies.
