McDonald's blames China and Australia when it releases its disappointing June quarter results to Wall Street. I didn't realise we were that important. 
 



Well the start of a new week so it's worth looking at a few news items you might have overlooked or not believed the first time around. The headline in the Fairfax financial pages today 'Forrest dominated board' … Yes, apparently key early investors in Andrew Twiggy Forrest's Foretescue Metals group have accused the mining […]

Now that Julia Gillard is out of office, let me confess my admiration for her.

Julia Gillard won four prime ministerial elections, a caucus election (unopposed) on June 24, 2010, a popular general election on August 21, 2010, another caucus election on February 27, 2012 (when she secured 71 votes to 31 for Kevin Rudd) and a caucus election on March 21, 2013 when she again won unopposed.
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Last year Treasurer Wayne Swan was too responsible and was tricked by Treasury’s less than accurate forecasts for economic growth — the end result was not a planned surplus but a bigger than expected deficit. I recall a scene from an old Seinfeld episode, where Jerry advised his friend George that as he complained that […]

When the Treasurer let us know that the promised surplus of $1.5 billion ended up being a $19.4 billion deficit, and this will be followed up by an $18 billion deficit next year, you couldn’t help but think, why would I take seriously any other number this guy will utter? Sure, forecasting is difficult but […]

The Abbott reply to the Budget has cut the ribbon on a four month election campaign but if the Opposition leader can maintain the strong, “I look like a grown up” image he delivered in Parliament last night, then Labor’s worst nightmares of a complete rout on September 14 could actually happen. On Wall Street […]

The fiscal cliff keeps pushing share prices down and the arrival of some disappointing economic data didn’t help the cause of those hoping for a small pullback. But let’s face it, stocks will trend down until President Barack Obama and the Republicans in the Congress are close to unity on key issues, so get used […]

State & territory economic performance report How are Australia’s states and territories performing? Each quarter CommSec attempts to find out by analysing eight key indicators: economic growth; retail spending; equipment investment; unemployment, construction work done; population growth; housing finance and dwelling commencements. Just as the Reserve Bank uses decade averages to determine the level of […]

The Australian has been (justifiably) on the warpath highlighting the inconsistencies in the Gillard Government's attempts to jawbone the RBA into lower rates on the back of promises of tighter fiscal policy: What was once labelled 'absurd' is now government policy in Wayne Swan's world The Australian April 22, 2012 12:19PM WAYNE Swan has been […]

While one rabid ALP economist tries to argue that when the PM publicly seeks easier monetary policy she is not looking for lower interest rates, and conveniently ignores the fact that this was precisely the briefing given by the PM's office to none other than the AFR's Laura Tingle, here is the objective assessment of […]

In a not surprising (for readers of this column) attempt to politically pressure Australia's central bank, a major media outlet reports today that the Prime Minister has broken with historical convention – for an incumbent government – and called on the RBA to lower interest rates given the government's mooted fiscal promises. This is after […]