Australia 01 (May 08 - Jan 11)

[winston]

Until and unless, a country has a transparent system, would allow market forces to work. have Rules of Law etc, it will not be able to realize it's full potential.

In Asia, Australia, Singapore and HK would fit the above. As Singapore and HK is a bit small and expensive, Australia is coming out on top of the list for a lot of multinationals.

[LenaHuat]

Winston, yes. More than this is the Chinese fear of losing all their wealth in another revolution. George Friedman predicts the disintegration of China by 2020. IMHO, this is highly possible. How many of us have ancestors who fled China because of societal violence and poverty?? How many of us have Chinese relatives or ancestors who havevlost their wealth and properties due to the Chinese Communist revolution??

It was just only 60 years ago.

[kennynah]

i suppose another "cultural revolution" could well happen... these days, though, it appears that the communistic ideology has somewhat given way to capitalism in China... whatever works, is ok with them ... heeding the visionary calls of Deng Xiaoping and with the excess money in the government's coffers, they are not poor anymore... commanding the largest US debt, whatever their decision is to do with it, will have global impact on currency markets, which is a vital lever in the financial system...

[AirFlownAussiePork]

Despite Rudd claims of prudential management of Australia's banks, it is IMHO that they escaped more or less unscathed from the sub prime crisis not because of what they claimed but that they are slower moving than the others. Hence whatever innovation and corresponding issues was missed out by the Australian banks.

Currency will be a good bet for Australia, rather than stocks. Given that the Aussie dollar is a commodity based currency. A drop in USD normally facilitates an increase in commodity prices and hence indirectly the Aussie dollar. Oil has been taken to new heights this year. Gold is projected, although quite optimistically to break $2000. But other commodities like rice and corn are still value enhancing. A bet on the Aussie dollar will be a good hedge against inflation which is expected to be severe as the USA consumer sentiments recover. The faster the recovery, the more severe will the inflation be. Quite a double edge sword for the USA, I must say.

[LenaHuat]

Hi AirFlownAussiePork

Welcome to the forum .
My post is not to prove you wrong but I recall reading somewhere that Australian banks are aggressively moving into China. From anecdotal evidences, many Mainland Chinese and Indians have parked $$$ in Australian banks. More so now than ever since the US IRS's actions against the Swiss.

From the AsianBanker:-
https://www.theasianbanker.com/A556C5/Update.nsf/0/413A5F4F46EC2B554825763F000813F6?Opendocument

[iam802]

Threat to pull plug on dodgy telcos

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/techno ... -hg2h.html

The consumer watchdog says there will be a "zero tolerance" approach to dodgy telecommunications companies while the Federal Government has threatened a legislative crackdown after new figures showed a significant rise in complaints against telcos.

..

[AirFlownAussiePork]

No worries, no one is always right, it is always good to learn from mistakes, though I prefer to learn from others' mistakes rather than my own. Not sure on the anecdotal evidences, but Australia has extremely tight money laundering rules, those guys are surely in the wrong place. Swiss iron clad secrecy laws may be broken but it is still as safe as safe can be for would be launderers.

Hi AirFlownAussiePork

Welcome to the forum .
My post is not to prove you wrong but I recall reading somewhere that Australian banks are aggressively moving into China. From anecdotal evidences, many Mainland Chinese and Indians have parked $$$ in Australian banks. More so now than ever since the US IRS's actions against the Swiss.

From the AsianBanker:-
https://www.theasianbanker.com/A556C5/Update.nsf/0/413A5F4F46EC2B554825763F000813F6?Opendocument

[millionairemind]

Nov 12, 2009
Australia jobless rises to 5.8%

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA'S unemployment rate edged up to 5.8 per cent from 5.7 per cent in October as growing confidence brought job-seekers back to the market, official data showed on Thursday.

Some 24,500 extra jobs were outstripped by a surprise 35,000 jump in the number of people seeking work, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said. Most were part-time positions, which grew by 21,500, while full-time jobs rose by 2,900, the ABS said.

The modest rise back to August jobless levels reflected a fairly consistent picture of employment since May, said AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver.

'There were still basically more people entering the labour force than jobs created thanks to population growth and people getting more confident and coming back to look for work,' Mr Oliver told AFP.

He said the labour force surge of 35,000 was an 'unusually high number' and would be vital as resource-rich Australia gears up for an expected mining boom.

Canberra recently sharply upgraded its growth and jobs forecasts, tipping unemployment to peak at 6.75 per cent, instead of the 8.5 per cent flagged in the May budget. Unemployment fell unexpectedly for the first time in five months in September to 5.7 per cent, following world-beating economic growth of 0.6 per cent in the three months to June. -- AFP

[kennynah]

do they count the aborigines?

[millionairemind]

Australia May Raise Key Rate for Record Third Month (Update1)
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By Jacob Greber and Dan Petrie

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point today for a record third straight month as evidence mounts that the nation’s economy is strengthening, economists say.

Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens will boost the overnight cash rate target to 3.75 percent at 2:30 p.m. in Sydney, according to 19 of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Futures traders say there is a 76 percent chance of an increase.

Central bank policy makers say the economy has entered a “new upswing” that will last several years, boosted by rising consumer confidence and China’s demand for resources such as iron ore. Still, some analysts say Stevens may delay an increase until the bank’s next meeting in February to gauge whether the recovery will slow as the government cuts stimulus spending.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... FzeE&pos=3