Mortgage

Is the mining boom back?

Hurry it up fellas, those pesky Aussies want their iron ore

While everyone was on holidays, the price of iron ore has shot back up to $US158 a tonne.

It was iron ore’s slump to $US86 a tonne at the end of last year that sparked fears of the end of the mining boom.

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  • Michael says:

    06:47pm | 14/01/13

    When China is done filling carparks and grain silos with 3 storey mountains of ore, hoarding gold, rice and other staples, we’re all screwed. Once their fort is stocked they’ll pull the financial rug from under the U.S, and the death of the petrodollar will bring a great depression the… Read more »

  • Achmed says:

    06:38pm | 14/01/13

    and yet an anouncement today that yet another iron ore mine will commence operations in the Pilbara…...15 million tons a year Read more »

 

It’s not an easy job, being the Governor of the Reserve Bank.

Is it a bird? Is it an interest rate rise?Picture: Gary Ramage

Glenn Stevens may have the benefit of hundreds of boffins feeding him historical data about the performance of the economy. But at the end of the day, no-one can see into the future. Interest rates are set in the Governor’s gut and those of his eight fellow board members.

And my gut’s telling me they should cut next week. There have been three important developments since the board last met. First, commodity prices remain off their highs, boding ill for investment and jobs in the previously red-hot mining industry. In his last statement, Stevens observed commodity prices had “fallen sharply in recent weeks”. Indeed, the price of Australia’s biggest export, iron ore, had tumbled to around $US86 a tonne.

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  • off centre says:

    05:38pm | 26/09/12

    I read through the comments and agree with the sentiment shared by GROBP. Australia has pinned its entire economy on mining and now that it is over we have nothing to fall back on. It doesn’t look like “just another recession” is on the way like the history books say,… Read more »

  • Samuel J says:

    05:10pm | 26/09/12

    Au contraire, it is one of the easiest and most overpaid jobs in the world. Up, down, or unchanged. Once a month, with a nice meeting / lunch. And lots of staff to write your speeches. No, Jess, Governor of the RBA (or any central bank) is a walk in… Read more »

 

In breaking news from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, apparently the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. On a cheerier note, there’s a bunch of us in the middle who are doing better than we were five years ago.

Only ONE packet of Tim Tams? Un-Australian.

The ABS has released the results of its Household Expenditure Survey, a huge project it undertakes every six years. Read all the important guff here, and the news story from news.com.au here.

And here are five of the more interesting findings:

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  • NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

    10:39pm | 08/09/11

    Hi Tory, It is all very interesting, but does the contents of our shopping trolley always reflect on our living standards & income?  For me personally, our living standards should be a good guide, especially when it comes to our education levels, our recreational activities & sense of fulfillment as… Read more »

  • RyaN says:

    02:43pm | 08/09/11

    I wish I had a 4 bedroom house, payed for, and the spare cash to make it self sufficient. Read more »

 

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