Wednesday, 20 December 2023

Red Sea assaults present a renewed threat...

Hiring normalises

Labour market dynamics are normalising quite significantly now. 


In July 2022 it was chronically difficult for recruiters to find staff, but for the past 18 months it's become progressively easier to hire. 


Personally I reckon that some of the unemployment forecasts are too optimistic and we'll be heading back to 5 per cent sooner than we think.

Nevertheless, hiring activity has held up pretty well to date. 


Source: Jobs & Skills Australia

Red Sea risks

The global inflation picture has improved markedly over the past few months.

One potentially risk area for global trade relates to shipping vessel missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea, which has seen BP halting the shipping of oil and gas through the region, and many large firms opting to avoid the Red Sea through diverting ships elsewhere. 

If the Red Sea and the Suez Canal were to become no-go areas for commercial shipping this would serious reignite supply concerns. 

With an election looming you can bet that the US will be deploying significant forces and resources to counter these attacks.

Markets don't seem too perturbed at the moment, but it's certainly one to watch.

Indeed, with interest rates expected to fall next year, it wouldn't be a surprise to see global stock indexes pushing to fresh highs soon. 

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Stellar returns from tech stocks may result in superannuation balances lifting by around 9 per cent in 2023. 

Not a bad year in the end!

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When adjusting for seasonality, Sydney's residential vacancy rates took another tumble in November on the REINSW's data.

Justin Fabo of Antipodean Macro with the graph, showing home vacancy rates in inner Sydney have driven the recent declines. 


The vacancy rate is closing in on the global financial crisis lows of around 1 per cent.

I was living in Sydney's eastern suburbs at the time and 30 to 50 per cent increases in rental renewals popped out in barbeque conversation all too regularly. 

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