The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Monday, May 2, 2011

Australian commodity prices soar--even in AUD terms

People sweat about the deflationary impact of AUD import prices. But check out the value of Australia's commodities, which have just been released by the RBA:

"Preliminary estimates for April indicate that the index rose by 7.6 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after rising by 0.8 per cent in March (revised). The largest contributors to the rise in April were increases in the estimated export prices of coking coal and iron ore, reflecting the movement to higher contract prices in the June quarter. The estimated export price of thermal coal as well as crude oil and gold prices also rose notably in the month, while sugar and cotton prices fell. In Australian dollar terms, the index rose by 3.8 per cent in April."

at 4:41 PM