This note looks at the global economic slump that is now unfolding. The key points are as follows: – Global recession is now a given. Australia is also headed for at least a mild recession. – The key issue is the depth and duration of the slump. At the moment leading indicators for global and…
This note looks at the outlook for house prices given the deterioration in the economic outlook over the last six months. The key points are as follows: – How house prices behave over the year ahead will likely be a key determinant of how well Australia weathers the global financial crisis and recession now embracing…
Opposition frontbencher Andrew Robb says the Treasury’s latest economic figures have got “the smell of manipulation” about them because they differ from the Reserve Bank’s. The Reserve Bank yesterday released figures which show it expects growth to slow to 1.5 per cent, compared to Treasury’s prediction of 2 per cent. Mr Robb says it is…
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) latest dramatic official interest rate cut has signalled to many that the Australian economy is in worse shape than first thought. The cut of 0.75 of a percentage point follows a full percentage point cut last month. The action has many people worried, although Treasurer Wayne Swan is citing…
Treasurer Wayne Swan says a massive drop in expected revenue has caused the Government to slash its forecast Budget surplus from over $21 billion to around $5b. Unemployment figures have also been revised up, with the jobless rate expected to hit 5 per cent by the middle of next year, while growth is expected to…
THE Australian dollar was weaker at noon, as investors sold commodities-driven currencies on ongoing worries that a global recession will demand for raw materials. The domestic unit has depreciated nearly 37 per cent since hitting a post-float high of US98.49c in mid-July. At 12noon (AEDT), the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.6212/17, down from Friday’s…
Superannuation analysts are predicting super funds will have fallen 15 per cent for the year, by the end of October. In the year to September balanced funds were down about 12 per cent. It is the first time there has been four consecutive quarters of negative returns since the compulsory scheme was introduced in 1992.…
More property and mortgage related funds have suspended redemptions amid the financial services industry’s efforts to gain some further accommodation from the Federal Government around the bank guarantee. APN Funds Management today joined Colonial First State in announcing temporary suspensions to redemptions. Colonial First State announced that it had suspended applications, daily withdrawals and switches…
Leading superannuation body, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), has called for a change in chief executive pay and disclosure and has labelled some CEO termination payments as “too generous”. In a media statement by ACSI, the council said it supports the introduction of UK-style proposals that provide for the outstanding term of a…
Colonial First State, ING and APN Funds Management have joined the ranks of the country’s leading mortgage funds that have suspended redemptions in the wake of the Government’s guarantee on banking deposits, locking up more than $6 billion of investor capital. Colonial First State will suspend applications, daily withdrawals and switches relating to funds with…