EVEN though the Federal Government has offered a one-year breather on tax consolidation, advisers and the accountants of WA’s largest company are warning against complacency.
HAVING spent three days at the Financial Planning Association (FPA) confer-ence in Brisbane last week, it is probably appropriate for me to report on the state of the nation, insofar as financial planners are concerned.
HOW is it possible for 11 nations that, on a combined basis, command very little more than 15 pert cent of the world’s capitalisation, hold the rest of the world to ransom? Yet, every few weeks, we allow this to happen.
HOW quickly things can change. In calendar year 1999, the Australian dollar was the third strongest in the world. In that year, it rose 6.2 per cent against the greenback.Last year was a very different one for the Aussie.
EVERYONE would like to know whether there is a likelihood of interest rate cuts in this cycle. The consensus of opinion among economists appears to be that there is a possibility of one more cut.
IT is nice to use the word prophecy and not have to follow that up with the interminable “Nostradamus” after it.The first Consensus Economics forecasts since the events of September 11 have been prepared and released.
THE financial markets industry has been one of the quickest growing for a long time here in Australia. The latest bulletin from the KPMG Financial Services Division analyses this industry in some depth.
AS the repercussions of the September 11 attacks in the US start to be felt I go back to my earlier comments that we are in uncharted territory. This is now being borne out as we see the full financial impact of the attacks.
NOBODY can accurately predict the effect on financial markets of the attacks on the World Trade Centre. None of us has lived through an attack of terrorism of this magnitude.
IT has been unkindly suggested that the WA Football Commission is going to be renamed Cobb & Co. This is supposedly because they run all their coaches out of town. Unkind, I would have thought.
THE Reserve Bank of Australia last week surprised this columnist with its rate cut. I, for one, was of the view that the RBA would be satisfied that the latest economic data has suggested we had turned the economic corner in Australia.
THE depreciation of the dollar has had a huge effect on our export position in this country for a little while now.This is emphasised by the release of the latest Current Account Deficit (CAD) figures for the June quarter.
THE Japanese economy continues to plunge into oblivion.For the first time since 1984 the Nikkei Dow fell below the psychologically important 11,000-point barrier.
INCREASING numbers of Australians are becoming familiar with the concept of international investment. We can trade on the Internet, with some degree of impunity, on the American and other international stock markets.
I WAS at a function the other night where the Treasurer, Peter Costello, sang the praises of the Howard Government in bringing in a trade surplus for the first time since John Gorton was Prime Minister.
DR Shane Oliver from AMP Henderson’s has looked at the state of the world at large. His initial feeling is that the global economy is experiencing its first synchronised downswing since 1982.
DENNIS Mahoney is the chief economist for the BNP Paribas Group. His is an opinion that is well respected and highly regarded, particularly by this columnist.
THE Australian Securities and Investments Commission is the regulator of the Managed Funds Industry and related financial markets. In that role, its main focus will always be the regulation of unscrupulous operators and scam perpetrators.
I FEEL better knowing that I am not the only person in WA who feels older. According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, there has been a surge in the number of people aged 85 and over in WA, with women outnumbering
JUNE was an interesting month. At a time when the general consensus of opinion was that we were seeing a slowing economy, we suddenly were hit with a raft of figures that introduced to economists the “wow” factor.
THE year to date has been a tough one. The shakeout in technology stocks and weaker global economic growth has created a difficult environment for world sharemarkets.
