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."

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Westpac: Cost of Aussie debt for government and corporates could fall further

Interesting angle:

"There is no doubt that both nominal and real bond yields in those economies that have so far escaped the heat of sovereign risk crisis are very low in an historical context, but the post-crisis deleveraging process is incomplete, resource utilisation rates are far from normal and are set to fall back in many economies, headline and core inflation are in retreat, risk aversion is high and any tightening of monetary policy is a very distant prospect. So, the core bond markets can remain richly valued and there is a not insignificant risk if Europe or China suffer further exaggerated distress that long rates could drop to new lows. In this environment, the search for yield will go on and the Australia and New Zealand government bond markets will continue to benefit from it, as indeed will corporate credits."