by Stephen Roberts | 4 Nov, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
Risk assets were stronger mostly through October assisted by a temporary resolution of the US budget/ government debt ceiling standoff, a strong start to the US Q3 company earnings reporting season and on the other side of the world, stronger economic readings in... by Stephen Roberts | 21 Oct, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The suspension of the US debt ceiling deadline until mid-January allows financial markets to focus on other influences on asset prices for a few months. One of the more important of those influences is that notwithstanding the lumps and bumps in the US economic... by Stephen Roberts | 12 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The August labour force report was softer than expected with employment falling by 10,800 (consensus +10,000), a second consecutive monthly fall. In trend terms employment is falling slightly on a monthly basis. The unemployment rate rose one notch to 5.8% in line... by Stephen Roberts | 9 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The Reserve Bank (RBA) left the cash rate at 2.50% at its board meeting last week, a decision that was very widely expected. The statement accompanying the decision was brief, but was notable for removing a key sentence from statements after earlier policy meetings... by Stephen Roberts | 8 Jul, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The RBA board left the cash rate unchanged at 2.75% for a second consecutive meeting in July and although the accompanying statement finished with the customary easing bias comment, signs of economic improvement internationally and locally seem to imply little reason...