Expect turbulent asset markets in 2026

Kenneth Rogoff highlights the risks created by policy uncertainty, geopolitical instability, and weak fundamentals

Is gold's appeal fading on rising volatility?

Gold's volatility rose in 2025 but from a low base, back to normal levels. Despite the rise, adding gold to a diversified portfolio continues to help reduce overall risk

Breakfast briefing: Dissonant American data

US consumers & factories downbeat, but official data surprises with sharp gains; Taiwan exports orders leap; semaglutide now in pill-form; UST 10yr at 4.17%; precious & other metals prices surge; oil rises; AU$1 = 66.9 USc

Beware of central economic forecasts for 2026

Mohamed El-Erian argues that the US economy is locked in a tense tug-of-war between three distinct futures

The AI War on Christmas

Timothy Snyder laments how the assault of algorithms has weakened many basic cultural forms, not the least holiday songs

Regulators act on risk management deficiencies at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

APRA says is is worried about significant gaps in the risk management at Bendigo Bank that need to be addressed urgently. It has imposed additional risk capital until they are resolved

Five structural trends transforming the global economy

Dambisa Moyo highlights the far-reaching implications of aging societies, AI disruption, and speculative investment

More banks move to stay in touch with Macbank

Two more banks have raised term deposit rates as they come under competitive pressure. They have starkly different approaches to the challenge

Fixed home loan rates are on the move - up

Westpac is the latest, and largest bank to raised fixed mortgage rates and by as much as +35 bps. They follow a slew of challenger banks. Despite that a fixed rate loan retains some clear advantages

Commbank tries to stay in touch

Our largest bank is front-footing Macquarie's household deposit challenge with yet another hike in their term deposit rate offers

The Japanese canary in the global debt coal mine

Barry Eichengreen weighs the implications of the Bank of Japan's announcement that it will soon consider raising interest rates

The RBA holds its cash rate target at 3.6%

The Australian central bank struggles with the inflation outlook but sees risks tilting to the upside, even though they still think the inflation pressure is transitory

Competition for one year term deposits is heating up

Even though most of the top ten banks have raised their interest rate offers, and two more have now just done so, most are struggling to defend the raid on household deposits by Macbank

For Macbank, the only direction is 'up'

Macquarie raises its fixed home loan rates across the board, with some increases quite large. This comes after aggressive rate offers to savers

Q3 economic activity rises less than expected

The latest GDP data shows private investment growth driven by machinery and equipment for data centers. Essential household spending rose as discretionary spending dropped. But the household saving ratio rose

Macbank keeps pressure on its rivals with a new market-leading one year TD rate

Moving fast, Macquarie extends its appeal to household savers, adding a new very competitive term deposit rate to an already competitive savings rate set

Teaching their rivals a lesson, some of them an increasingly painful one

Macquarie Bank has gained an extra $19 bln in household deposits over and above the market growth of +10.5%. And no rival seems to be able to do anything about their momentum