KEVIN RUDD steeled Australians for the effects of the global financial meltdown but said the Government was working to “maintain positive growth”. “Some of the options could be bringing forward major infrastructure projects or one-off measures to help small business set to suffer,” the Prime Minister said yesterday. Investors will nervously watch the opening of…
Australian stocks are expected to open flat on Monday as Wall street closed the week modestly lower following its horror session on Thursday. AMP Investments chief economist Shane Oliver said the federal government’s announcement that it would guarantee all money deposits for the next three years would have little impact on Monday’s market. “Whether it…
THE Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan has warned that the economic crisis is flowing through to developing economies much faster and more brutally than expected – including Australia’s major trading partners. Mr Swan emerged from a weekend meeting in Washington of the G20, a group that includes developed and developing nations, saying he was now more…
THE Australian dollar has opened firmer after the federal government’s guarantee to cover all bank deposits for three years lifted investor confidence about the country’s banks. At 0700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.6674/82, up from Friday’s close of $US0.6591/99. During the weekend offshore session, the local currency traded between a high of…
Resource analysts say they’re not surprised Chinese steel makers have asked for slowdowns in iron ore deliveries. Several manufacturers have asked Mount Gibson Iron, Australia’s fourth largest ore producer, to delay shipments next year, as the industry slows down in the face of the global financial uncertainty. Resource analyst Mark Nuitta says, while Mount Gibson…
THE Australian stock market continued its freefall today, tumbling more than 8 per cent by early this afternoon. Just after 3pm , the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 344 points to 3976, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 341 points to 3948. More than $70 billion has been wiped off the value of All Ordinaries…
ABOUT 800,000 Australian households and up to 2 million small and medium-sized enterprises are living on a knife-edge and could go under in the face of high costs of debt, the latest mortgage report compiled by JPMorgan and Fujitsu warned yesterday. More than 800,000 households are experiencing some form of mortgage stress — five times…
THE dollar has opened lower for the 12th consecutive local session after dropping to a five-year low overnight as the bleak global economic outlook caused investors to abandon the high-yielding currency. The dollar touched a five-year low of $US0.6454 during the overnight session, but recovered slightly after a number of global central banks eased monetary…
THE share market was down 4 per cent at noon after a horror session on Wall St overnight, where stocks fell to a five-year low. At 12noon (AEDT) the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 4.08 per cent at 4430.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index had lost 4.03 per cent, to 4412.7. Macquarie Equities adviser Helen…
AUSTRALIA leads the world, and a bloody good thing it is, too. This is the theme of the response to Glenn Stevens’ bold 100-point cut to interest rates. I agree with it, and congratulate the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the RBA board for their boldness at a time of great global…