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Consumer Sentiment Surges

Both the ANZ and Westpac measures of consumer confidence surged in the week, poking their noses up above the long-run average for the first time in a while.

Why? Seems it was all about the budget, which was seen to be much friendlier and cuddlier than the last one.

To me, this tells us two things.
1. The government’s ‘warm and fuzzy’ spin strategy worked.
2. People are idiots.

Auction Clearances still stratospheric

The national auction clearance rate moved even higher this week to 78.4%.

Either we’re looking at one of the strongest booms in recent memories, or there’s something going on with the way Aussies relate to auctions. I think it could be a bit of both.

Foreigners love (new) property

Braclay’s has broken down the Foreign Buying data from FIRB. We knew that foreign property purchases had doubled in the past year. Now it seems that doubling is all about new (vs existing) properties. Though existing also posted decent growth.

Big Business getting Bigger

All this talk about young and nimble tech companies “disrupting” the business world – and someone forgot to tell big business.

In America, the overall revenues of Fortune 500 companies have risen from 58 percent of nominal GDP in 1994 to 73 percent in 2013.

So much for the new economy.

Have a great week!

JG