27 August 2018
We can’t help but keep an almost hourly watch on the developments in Canberra over the course of last week. Australia is headed for its fifth prime minister in five years. If Bill Shorten wins the next election, it will be six in as many years.
Earlier in the week, the political instability pushed the Australian share market to its lowest level in three weeks, weighed down … Read more »
20 August 2018
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its latest unemployment figures last Thursday. It showed that the key jobless rate fell to 5.3% in July from 5.4% in June, the lowest since November 2012. During the month, 19,300 new full-time jobs were created. Following the release of the data, the Australian dollar rose to US72.7¢. Just as encouragingly, ABS figures also showed that wages were rising … Read more »
13 August 2018
Australia’s population officially hit 25 million last Tuesday, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Population Clock, a milestone in the nation’s history. Australia’s population increased by 388,000 in 2017. 62% (240,000) of that number was due to net migration, the number of migrants who arrive minus the number who leave. Over the last three years, Australia’s overall population has grown by around 400,000 per annum. If … Read more »
6 August 2018
The most significant macroeconomic development concerning the USD-AUD pair in the last few months has been the growing negative gap between Australian and US interest rates (rising US interest rates and unchanged Australian rates), this has helped drive a 5% fall in the Aussie currency against the USD this year. At US74.2¢, the Aussie is off by more than 8% from its late January peaks of above US81¢. … Read more »
