Nick Hossack

Data alert | Meat production data released today Today, the ABS released its quarterly Livestock Products publication, which provides figures on the number of animals slaughtered and the amount of meat produced. By dividing total meat production (in kilograms) by the number of animals or birds slaughtered, one can estimate the

Event alert | RBA cash rate decision on Tuesday The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will hold its next monetary policy meeting on Tuesday this week, 20 May 2025, to set the Official Cash Rate (OCR)—the benchmark interest rate that influences borrowing costs across the economy. As of today, the

Updated | Misery Index forecasts in 2030 | Eastern Europe doing well Yesterday I posted Misery Index estimates for 2025 and flagged that I would follow up with forecasts for 2030. Today’s update delivers on that promise, with three new charts to complete the picture. Chart 1 presents the average Misery

Updated | Misery Index updated for 2025 data A commonly used and straightforward measure of a country's relative economic pain is known as the Misery Index. It involves a simple calculation: the addition of a country's unemployment rate and its inflation rate. Both indicators are undesirable—so

Data alert | The VIX 'Fear Index' since Trump's tariff Liberation Day The most widely cited metric for measuring economic fear is the VIX—short for Volatility Index. It tracks expected volatility in the US stock market, specifically the S&P 500, which represents the 500

Data alert | ABS Lending Commitments released A frequently overlooked yet revealing economic indicator is the proportion of new home loan commitments going to first home buyers. It is a deceptively simple statistic, yet it provides important insight into intergenerational equity, market accessibility for younger Australians. Each quarter, the Australian Bureau

Data Alert | ABS Labour Force released Key figures In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2025: * Unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. * Participation rate increased to 67.1%. * Employment increased to 14,642,700. * Employment to population ratio increased to 64.4%. * Underemployment rate increased to 6.0%. * Monthly hours worked

Data alert | Country comparisons of residential property prices + Investment Tips below. In a sign of its growing economic strength, India has outpaced advanced economies in residential property price growth since 2009. It tops the global rankings, followed by Chile and Estonia. The chart below doesn’t measure housing affordability as