Europe | Clime

The direction of the $A will determine how strong the Australian equity market will be this year - 01/02/12

The international picture To the surprise of many, world equity markets have begun 2012 with a bit of a flurry. It certainly would have surprised the billionaires, the politicians, the economists, the hedge fund managers and the strategists who attended … Continue reading →

A golden age for LNG - 18/01/12

With new production in the pipeline, Australia’s LNG exports could potentially quadruple within a decade. Australia could well be the world’s largest exporter of LNG by 2017/18, overtaking Qatar. This is destined to provide major benefits in the form of … Continue reading →

Upcoming Elections - 12/01/12

The uncertain investment environment is closely coupled with the uncertain political environment. Investors require certainty, and how does one have confidence in a rapidly changing political environment? It is obviously difficult to anticipate the toppling of dictators and revolutions such … Continue reading →

Smell the roses – things aren’t that bad - 11/01/12

The tumbling of the euro in recent weeks whereby one $A buys 80 euro cents is another effect of government intervention. Free market economists need to go on a very long holiday or go back to university and extend their … Continue reading →

Best dividend stocks for 2012 - 10/01/12

The following article by Matthew Koroi was the feature story in ASX Investor Update, 10 January 2012. Many investors are shifting their focus to achieving yield rather than capital growth, and favouring bank deposits over the sharemarket. But they must remember … Continue reading →

There are signs of hope amid the market gloom - 31/12/11

Paul Zwi comments on the following piece by Tim Boreham’s published in The Australian, 31 December 2011. MARKET watchers expect an improved 2012 after the local bourse’s abysmal showing in calendar 2011 but warn that trading may get worse before … Continue reading →

Australia’s Terms of Trade - 21/12/11

Australia’s terms of trade (the price of its exports relative to the price of its imports) is on a 140 year high. This is a huge positive for Australia, in the sense that we can buy more imports for a … Continue reading →

Minutes from the RBA’s meeting of 6 December - 20/12/11

The Minutes from the RBA’s monetary policy setting meetings usually make interesting reading. Here are some extracts from their meeting held on 6 December, which resulted in official rates being cut from 4.5% to 4.25%. “In the global economy, the … Continue reading →

Picture tells a thousand words - 19/12/11

The BBC has an interesting series of graphs selected by well regarded economists designed to capture the big stories of 2011. The graphs are euro-centric as one would expect from UK economists, but as Europe has been the big story … Continue reading →

Peace in our time - 14/12/11

“The vision of Neville Chamberlain in 1938 gives us an opportunity to reflect on the current state of the Australian share market. In particular it is instructive to compare its current malaise with the fairly buoyant market that existed between … Continue reading →