Asian share markets are quite mixed as we go into the final session of the trading week with local shares outperforming.

All things Australian dollar are struggling a little this afternoon.

Are LNG imports worthwhile given the approaching global glut?

In the not too distant past the metric net long term and permanent arrivals was a pedestrian and almost boring indicator for most, used by the like’s of the federal government’s Centre For Population as a leading directional indicator for future migration flows and by extension population growth.

TME with the charts.

During a meeting I had with a senior foreign economist at a major investment house six years ago, I explained how the mass-immigration economy would prevent any risk from engulfing the banking system.

Since 2018, the Australian government has been attempting to negotiate what is one of the toughest and most time-consuming diplomatic agreements in the world: a free trade agreement with the European Union (EU).

Chinese credit growth data for December was released overnight.

The iron ore jaws have eased slightly.

When the government of Prime Minister Robert Menzies was elected in 1949, it came with a pledge to focus on raising home ownership rates and giving Australians a stake in society.

Silver took a nose dive as the Trump regime enacted a critical minerals directive plus tariffs on semiconductors amid more national security beat-ups while still promising an attack on Iran keeping other risk markets in check.

Perhaps we can be grateful that Australia’s capital city and its national interest policy process are so far gone from sense that no legislation is any longer possible.

Charts thanks to TME.

Roy Morgan reports that mortgage stress has fallen to its lowest level since January 2023, following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) three 25 bp rate cuts.

In recent months, the evolution of events and rhetoric over Greenland has been absolutely unprecedented.

Cotality’s Chart Pack for December shows that dwelling values nationally increased by 2.9% in the final quarter of 2025, with regional values (3.5%) outpacing capital city values (2.7%).

Wow.

Its all about Iran across risk markets as “peace” President Trump looks set to attack another country (how many is that this year so far) with oil prices still in the balance despite a big lift in US inventories overnight.

DXY is still thinking about rising.

Any reasonable person should hate these hate laws.

In debates over the appropriate level of migration into various Western nations, there is often a narrative that a significant reduction in the intake would entail major economic costs.

Asian share markets are still lifting across the board, performing better than transatlantic shares at least despite some mixed economic news from Japan and China.

According to the most recent NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO), business confidence increased significantly in the last quarter of 2025.

Oddly, the Murdoch press has taken the lead in curtailing free speech amid culture wars, despite its earlier strong stance against identity politics.