Alan Kohler is one of Australia’s most experienced commentators and journalists. Alan is the founder of Eureka Report, Australia’s most successful investment newsletter, and Business Spectator, a 24-hour free business news and commentary website. He also hosts Inside Business, a half-hour Sunday programme on the ABC, is the finance presenter on the ABC News - and producer of the nightly graph (or two).
The market was already factoring in a tapering of QE before Ben Bernanke's comments last night, and the fact we saw a mass exodus from risk assets suggests the Fed's program might have worked too well.
Bad loans in China's provincial businesses have been as high as 80 per cent because rural banks are beholden to the demands of local officials. It is critical for China's rural development that these banks stop receiving bailouts.
Citigroup analyst Tony Brennan says the Australian dollar's fall will help boost local corporate earnings in 2014.
Ben Bernanke is being blamed for a slide in the Australian market which was already on tenterhooks over China concerns.
The implementation of Queensland’s Health Payroll system will be remembered as one of the most disastrous IT projects in Australia's history. How did things go wrong? And is a $1.25 billion lesson enough to ensure that the bungle isn't repeated?
The dollar is heading back to its natural level but we won’t see the benefit unless urgent change takes place. A new government will be the start.
Labor’s ambitious NBN vision looks to be on its last legs but that hasn't stopped NBN Co from carrying on with its business. The Coalition isn't going to like the new Transfield deal but then again it has bigger fish to fry right now.
The implementation of Queensland’s Health Payroll system will be remembered as one of the most disastrous IT projects in Australia's history. How did things go wrong? And is a $1.25 billion lesson enough to ensure that the bungle isn't repeated?
A final evaluation from the Central Victorian Solar City provides another insight into the household electricity demand fall – and the potential for further reductions.
The Australian natural gas industry is booming and it largely owes its success to the average Chinese citizen.
CEOs outline changing views on corporate spending and profits, their economic expectations and political dissatisfaction, including advice for Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.
UK-based Zeebox wants to be the intermediary for all social media-television interactions. It will not only have to lure viewers, but the networks themselves.
The most recent official Chinese economic data is riddled with convenient contradictions, so while the outlook appears generally bright, investors had better conduct thorough due diligence.
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Comments on this article
Comments PolicyMost thinking people would agree with Dr. Lee on this, but I suppose that this reliance on figures is a part of the wider scene of too much information in general (Buyers beware of Chinese data, January 23).
This enables anyone to take a position and then go find the stats to support it.
All governments play with the figures but perhaps in China they can be more efficient due to their system of government
Continuing on this theme, I am amazed no one has commented on the Chinese export figures from last month. 14+% increase which made everyone really happy (Buyers beware of Chinese data, January 23).
But when you look at imports in other countries, USA imports from China increased by about 1%, from memory Euro country imports from China actually fell slightly. Considering those 2 combined are the major consumers of Chinese exports, the rest of us must have inreased our imports enormously!!
How ever could you conduct due diligence anyway (Buyers beware of Chinese data, January 23).
We know we cannot trust the data from the western Governments either so what's new.
The brain is wired for survival/self interest so what else could you expect.
Was it Jim Chanos who said "China is Dubai times 1,000"? Brace for a hard landing, people (Buyers beware of Chinese data, January 23).
If you believe the Chinese data you will believe anything (Buyers beware of Chinese data, January 23).