Australia 01 (May 08 - Jan 11)

[winston]

On CNBC now:-

A talking head is saying that there will be a bear market for 10 to 20 years ..

[kennynah]

u still listen to those kangeroos talking during the day?

[iam802]

Family life suffers as house prices climb: study

http://www.smh.com.au/business/family-l ... -gb1u.html

THE cost of avoiding the financial calamity that hit Britain and the US will be house prices ever more out of reach of low and middle-income Australians, the Reserve Bank says.

And, the central bank argues, state, local and federal governments will need to increase the pool of affordable accommodation to prevent house prices simply widening the gap between rich and poor, and locking buyers into a lifetime of paying down debts.

....

[LenaHuat]

When I watched that scary reddish sandstorm blanket over Sydney, I worry much for Australians. Desertification coupled with too much drawing of underground water will be big issues for the sustainability of the Australian way of life.

[iam802]

RBA lifts rates

http://www.smh.com.au/business/rba-lift ... -gkv5.html

Update The Reserve Bank has raised its key interest rate, making Australia the first developed nation to reverse the cycle of cuts triggered by the global financial crisis. Analysts say more increases are on the way.

Today's 25-basis-point rise pushes the central bank's cash rate to 3.25 per cent in a move that will add $40 to the average monthly payment for a typical $300,000 mortgage if it is passed on by commercial banks. The extra cost may stretch household budgets at a time when unemployment remains on the rise.

All four of the big banks - Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ - said they have placed their variable interest rates under review.
...

[winston]

Ex-Pimco Palghat Says Buy ‘Anything Aussie’ on Economy Strength
By Sarah McDonald

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy Australian assets on the country’s strong economy and ties with China and India, according to Kumar Palghat, who helps manage A$1.1 billion ($980 million) at Kapstream Capital in Sydney.

“Non-Aussie investors should buy Aussie assets, anything, equities, commodities, currency, debt,” Palghat, a former head of portfolio management in Asia-Pacific for Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s biggest bond fund, said in an interview in Sydney yesterday. “Just look at Australia as an economy: they have avoided recession, fiscal policy is good, they’re closely associated with Asia, they can dig stuff out of the ground.”

Australia’s central bank yesterday became the first Group of 20 nation to boost borrowing costs since the start of the global financial crisis more than a year ago, on rising job vacancies, retail sales and house prices, as well as surging business and consumer confidence. The nation’s benchmark stock index has advanced 26 percent this year, and its currency is up 29 percent against the U.S. dollar.

Kapstream has about 80 percent of its assets in Australia, and plans to increase that amount, said Palghat, who started the investment company in 2007 after working for Pimco from 1997 to 2006.

Senior and subordinated debt issued by Australia’s four largest banks is attractive, he said. The banks continued to produce billions of dollars in profits in an environment where many of their U.S. counterparts were filing for bankruptcy, and even non-government guaranteed debt is likely to be bailed out in the event of a default, he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... Ky8JPQL_Ro

[millionairemind]

Oct 12, 2009
Aussie jobless to rise

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA'S economy will likely perform under capacity and unemployment will rise, despite the country's resilience in the face of the global downturn, Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Monday.

Mr Swan said the government's A$70 billion (S$88 billion) emergency stimulus package had helped keep Australia out of a recession - the only major Western nation to do so - but that uncertainties remained. 'We still expect the economy will operate below capacity for a while yet and for the unemployment rate to continue to rise,' he told economists at a lunch in Sydney.

'The full effects of the fall in Australia's terms of trade are also still being felt, and this will continue to weigh on domestic incomes. Private business investment and company profitability are still expected to decline.'

Australia posted growth of 0.6 per cent in the three months to June - the best in the developed world - while the country's jobless rate fell unexpectedly for the first time in five months in September to 5.7 per cent.

But Mr Swan, who did not put a figure on future unemployment, said without the government's fiscal stimulus the economy would have contracted by 1.3 per cent over the year to June.

The treasurer said one year after the global financial crisis rattled markets around the world, a sustained global recovery was 'no sure thing'. 'Substantial uncertainties remain, and Australians' jobs are still at risk as a consequence,' he said. But he also noted: 'It is possible the economy could continue to surprise on the upside.' -- AFP

[winston]

Crisis helps Australia's push to be Asia's finance hub

SYDNEY: Australia's ability to weather the global downturn has enhanced its bid to become Asia's financial hub, observers said, after a report ranked its market ahead of those of Singapore and Hong Kong.

Bowen said Australia's equity market was the eighth largest in the world while the country had the biggest pool of funds under management in Asia.

"The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing region in the world and we're on the edge of it. So in that sense we are better placed than the US or London," he said.

- AFP/ir

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 5/1/.html#

[kennynah]

i'm afraid that once the dragon is awaken, it wont be about to go back to slumber.... China will be the next superpower, in finance and defence.... if not in my life time, perhaps by the next generation...

australia?? 靠边站...

[LenaHuat]

The irony is very rich Chinese have made this possible, K.