Economy

The Aussie dollar was rising against the US dollar, riding high on commodities, but with global equity markets in retreat we are seeing the dollar fall back below parity. The Aussie dollar has always had a strong correlation to the rise and fall of global markets.  Read more

Today was not a great start to the final quarter of the year and it certainly adds a bit more powder to the theory that last week's rally was really just a short covering rally. Obviously the sell-off in the US was the lead for the Australian market, but it still remains all about Europe and the European sovereign debt issues with across-the-board selling, from commodities stocks to the big banks, a fairly nervous day today to start the quarter.  Read more

The energy sector and the big miners helped the local market higher today, on the back of ongoing rebounds in markets all around the world. Last night the European markets were up between four and five per cent. It does look like policymakers are starting to get it, that they need to be getting some action going.   Read more

It has been a relentless run of negative days on our market. It's good to see the market up over 3 per cent today with the banks and miners leading the charge.
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It never ends; debt concerns flared up again as Europe's third biggest economy, Italy, became the latest credit ratings target. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the Mediterranean nation, one notch from AA to A triggering the predictable sell-off on most markets and it was shades of 2008 amid signs of growing mistrust of Europe's banks.
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