No, Joe, nationalising iron ore is not a good idea

Tuesday 4 August 2026

Iron ore and steel keep on falling.

The latest bad news was the Rating Dog PMI which fell to 50.9 in July from 51.7 in June. Among the major sub-indexes, the new order sub-index decreased the most, followed by the output sub-index.

Both the NBS manufacturing PMI and the RatingDog manufacturing PMI fell in July, suggesting slower growth in manufacturing activity.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.