It’s Monday, the 1st of September. House prices have recorded their strongest month since May last year, with Cotality's Home Value Index rising 0.7pc in August, pushing annual growth to 4.1pc. It means spring selling season is kicking off with a lot of momentum, fuelled by three interest rate cuts and rising consumer sentiment. This was clear in the weekend's auctions too - a preliminary clearance rate across Australia of 76.3pc, a full percentage point higher than last week. With the government's expanded first home buyer scheme kicking in next month, and demand continuing to outpace supply, we could be in for a very big spring.

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News in brief

Thousands of people joined March for Australia anti-immigration rallies yesterday across Australia’s capital cities, as well as some regional areas, calling for an end to mass migration. The government has condemned the rallies, saying they 'seek to divide and undermine' social cohesion.

The federal government is moving to crack down on 'shrinkflation,' where companies reduce product sizes without cutting prices, after an ACCC inquiry found Australian supermarkets are among the world’s most profitable.

ANZ has warned staff that pay could be cut if they fail to return to the office at least half the time. The policy was introduced before new CEO Nuno Matos’ arrival in May, but is now being strictly enforced.

A US appeals court has ruled that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal. In a 7-4 decision, judges said the former president exceeded his authority by using emergency powers to increase levies on imports. But they remain in effect until October 14, while the Trump administration considers an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Fear-o-meter

Diana Mousina, Deputy Chief Economist at AMP, breaks down some of the statistics for reporting season:

Australian corporate half-year profit results to August are nearly done, with 95% of companies having reported results. It has been a fairly good earnings season, with 29% of companies beating expectations, 36% of companies missing expectations, and 35% were in line (which is above the historical average). 

61% of companies had earnings above where they were a year ago, and 62% had dividends higher than a year ago.

The Australian sharemarket performed strongly over reporting season, particularly in [the] consumer discretionary [sector]. According to UBS, companies with US exposure like Amcor, Bluescope and James Hardie all had downbeat assessments on US businesses. Tech-related businesses like REA Group, Car Group and Seek all had solid earnings growth.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On a huge week ahead for the economy, including the release of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures on Wednesday, which will reveal just how much the economy has grown:

Look, the GDP numbers are really important, but in one respect they're a little bit old. They're the June quarter and here we are at the beginning of September. That said, they are the building block for what the Reserve Bank, people in the money markets, the Treasury and the government look at to see how is the economy growing, and it's a really important indicator, even if it is a little bit old.

The bottom line is that we're looking for a growth rate of about 0.5 percent in real GDP in the June quarter. In annual terms, that lifts the year-on-year growth rate from about 1.3 to about 1.6pc. So we're moving in the right direction. The economy is recording a slight pick-up in economic growth, hooray. But when you take a step back and think, well, 1.6 or 1.7pc growth, it's still pretty sluggish. 0.5pc in the quarter is still pretty sluggish.

We're in this sort of area where things are not horrible. But as I've said before, like my school reports: could be doing a whole lot better. Room for improvement!

Greed-o-meter

There's a new #1 film on Netflix - the animated movie KPop Demon Hunters has now been streamed a whopping 236 million times worldwide. The movie, which features three KPop stars who just happen to be demon hunters (of course), has also dominated the music charts - six of the top 10 songs on the ARIA singles charts are from the film's soundtrack. A singalong version has now been released in cinemas, giving Netflix millions in additional revenue.

Source: Netflix

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