My media colleagues were alluding to a bloodbath on the local stock market following Wall Street’s tumble with the Dow Jones index shedding 223 points or 2.6 per cent, to close at 8,281. But it got worse with the S&P 500 falling 2.9 per cent and the Nasdaq giving up 2.7 per cent. Look forward, […]

Given our big fall yesterday where the S&P/ASX 200 shed 80.90 points to finish at 3874, today’s stock market movements should be interesting following a rise on Wall Street. Of course, this followed a biggish fall on the New York Stock Exchange. It is the ‘follow the leader’ syndrome but there is more in it […]

If the local stock market does not fall today that will be a big surprise after Wall Street headed south following a surprise drop in consumer confidence. This coincides with the end of the quarter and it follows a big quarter for stocks and a sensational four months since the S&P 500 index in America […]

With a new financial year ahead, how are the stock market, property and general investment ‘planets’ lining up with the economy? Are we in for another market rally where we rocket ahead? Or are we set to end up like a shooting star? Despite apparent evidence to the contrary, I have backed the optimistic scenario […]

You can’t easily live without the work of journalists but sometimes they write some crap! The most recent comes out of Wall Street where they are suggesting that Bernie Madoff getting handed down 150 years for his Ponzi scheme somehow sparked the 90-point rally on Wall Street. The reality is that most investors are caught […]

Local doomsday merchants got a statistical kick in the pants this week when the OECD gave the Aussie economy a big tick, claiming that our economy will contract by only 0.3 per cent this year but will roar back to solid growth next year, with a 2.4 per cent figure tipped. But the even better […]

Economists have long had to endure being called "Dismal Scientists", but really that's not hard enough on them. With their proclivity to invent trite phrases to describe complex issues, they deserve to be known as Dismal Poets as well. The latest cliché off the economic jargon production line is "Green Shoots of Recovery". With governments […]

Upcoming economic and financial market events Australia 30 June Private sector credit (May): Housing credit is growing, but other lending is becalmed. 1 July Retail trade (May): We tip a 0.4pct increase in sales. Building approvals (May): Another solid increase in approvals is tipped, up by around 7pct. 2 July International trade (May): A small […]

For those in a quandary over whether they should be fixing their home loan interest rates or gambling on the more volatile variable rate of interest, this is your chance to see what’s going on in my head about this thorny, hip-pocket dilemma. A reader called Jessica recently sent me an interesting question, which I […]

It’s the stuff made of nightmares, nevertheless it does need to be taken into consideration. I’m stating the obvious here, but children are just as susceptible as adults to debilitating diseases or injuries that may result in permanent disability or death. What many parents don't realise until it’s too late is that it’s just as […]

The big news during May was of course the Federal Budget. On June 3, we got ‘great’ economic growth figures, but I will leave that until later. A lot of the Budget information was leaked before the actual night, so most were prepared for what was in store. I did an economics wrap-up for PriceWaterhouseCoopers […]

It’s official — Australia is NOT in recession! And no matter what negative, doomsday merchants want to say to justify their incorrect calls, there’s no official recession here. This is great news and will help a recovery in consumer and business confidence. This in turn will boost business investment sooner rather than later and that’s […]