The well-read investor: All the highlights from the articles you probably weren’t going to read anyway.
1. Housing lies at the heart of the RBA’s inflation problem
AFR
The RBA hiked again last week. Inflation is just not coming down fast enough. The housing market has something to do with that.
Higher house prices encourage more spending, thanks to the ‘wealth effect’, at a time when we want spending to be slowing. Secondly, rents are through the roof, feeding directly into the CPI.
It’s not the only thing that matters, but the resilience of the housing market has been surprising, and un-forecasted.
2. Australia records biggest income decline in the developed world
AFR
To make matters worse, with inflation rising and wages not growing all that much, Australia has just experience the biggest real income decline in the OECD.
No, that’s not something to be proud of.
Houses are strong. Households… not so much.
3. NAB’s riskiest mortgage borrowers are hanging in there
AFR
That said, both NAB and Westpac reported results last week, and they reckon that, so far, households are weathering the storm, and are not getting into too much trouble.
Westpac has just 13,253 accounts in hardship, on a loan book of over 3 million accounts.
That gives the RBA a little more room to hike if they want to.
4. “Handsome Boy” Albanese visits China
ABC
The Prime Minister went to China to try to ease diplomatic tensions and get trade flowing again. China seemed happy to see him, and the press coverage was generally positive.
I’m still not sure we should be hitching the wagon back up to China, but for now, everybody seems happy.
5. Four Men Charged After Golden Toilet from Winston Churchill's Birthplace Was Stolen
People
Just so many questions.
The toilet was made of pure gold. It was fully functional. It was an ‘art’ work. The art work was called “America.” It was stolen from Winston Churchill’s old house which is now a museum.
Just… what?
And now you’re all caught up. Have a power week!
JG.