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News & Media

The Oxford Perspective - business news and views

1 November 2011

RBA LOWERS TO 4.5 PERCENT
The Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced the basic cash rate has been lowered to 4.5 percent.

JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE   
Our share market finished October with the biggest monthly gain in the past two years. Most experienced traders now predict much of the volatile behaviour of this year should now be over and future peaks and troughs could be less dramatic.

EVEN THE DOLLAR STRENGTHENED  
Along with the consolidation of the share market, our dollar also finished October in a very good position. But very few Foreign Exchange specialists are predicting anything like stability has arrived.

SO WHAT TO BUY NEXT?   
Interesting research is now being circulated by one of the major four banks which both confirms that residential properties are no longer worth an investment and the way ahead is in equities and commercial properties. The report titled Asset Returns Past, Present and Future looks at the next 10 years, and the best forecast is for equities and commercial property with what they claim is an average of five percent annual capital growth. Just for the record, residential property has been Australia's best overall investment for the past 24 years, eclipsing even shares.

ON-LINE ADVERTISING SET TO BOOM  
After years of guessing, it looks like on-line advertising will now be getting a credible ratings system. A combination of Nielsen and the Interactive Advertising Bureau have finally agreed on how this will be done and many in the advertising industry are predicting their first reports will see significant movements from traditional media advertising to the many opportunities on the internet for both small and large businesses.

ONE TO AVOID?  
And for those thinking of putting their advertising dollars into radio, a word of warning. Roy Morgan Research has just released details of research which shows Australians continue to listen less to the media and the overall drop is getting on for 20 percent since 2004.

MANUFACTURING CONTINUES TO IMPROVE  
The Australian Industry Group (AIG) is reporting good gains as both manufacturing activity and employment levels continue to grow. The AIG says despite this good result for manufacturing in Australia, the sector remains at just over 10 percent of the economy and continued strong mining activity will see the minerals sector soon overtake.

THE BIGGEST CAR NEWS COULD COME FROM THE VERY TOP 
The latest huge news from the massive global car industry is that the VW Audi is claiming if its present rate of expansion continues, the group could be the world's top car maker within six months. And industry analysts say this is possible as the two dominant forces from Toyota and General Motors continue to report slow growth this year (the German controlled group includes VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini with the VW brand being well established in booming China).

FUTURE SALES HIT  
All those booming commercial ute sales are about to be severely hit. The fact is many of Australia's utes are made in various Thailand factories and the floods now washing through that country have stopped production. This hits a huge line-up of good sellers from Toyota, Mazda and Ford. Honda production in Thailand has also been halted.

OVER $600 MILLION FOR THE TAKING  
As always, it's the back pages of the Australia Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) reports which makes fascinating reading. This year, we learn the total amount of unclaimed money in Australia is no less than $635 million and is increasing. One of the biggest individual parcels of money is over $700,000 by what is described as a lost shareholder of the AWB Ltd. Only $62 million was traced and paid in the past 12 months. Interested parties should go to www.moneysmart.gov.au and follow the links to unclaimed money. It might be a better bet than anything was on the Melbourne Cup.
 

View past editions:

• 18 October 2011
• 4 October 2011
• 21 September 2011
• 6 September 2011
• 2 August 2011
• 19 July 2011
• 5 July 2011
• 21 June 2011
• 9 June 2011
• 17 May 2011