July mortgage stress up to an 18-year high

Almost one third of home loan borrowers are now in mortgage stress says Roy Morgan, almost back to GFC levels in 2008

Today's changes to interest rates

Here are the changes the main banks have made to retail interest rates on Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Breakfast briefing: Investors on edge as global bonds sell off

Bond markets shout warnings; US data stable on stockpiling; Japanese sentiment firms; China's debt nears US levels; Australian building permits fall; UST 10yr at 4.80%; gold falls and oil jumps; AU$1 = 71.5 USc

Housing downturn spreads as 93% of capital city suburbs record winter value falls

Cotality's national Home Value Index fell 0.9% in August, marking a fifth consecutive month of decline. Sydney leads the downturn, outpacing its earlier 2022-23 correction due to falling demand and higher stock levels

How much does your insurer really know about you?

Insurers have a lot of data about us. Fei Huang looks at where they get it from, and how they use it

The US Fed and the US Treasury are in denial

Katharina Pistor thinks the US Fed and the US Treasury have lost sight of their central, but not independent, role in financial markets

Is the Trump Treasury panicking?

Kenneth Rogoff warns that fiddling with bond maturities won't save the US from the painful fiscal choices ahead

The CPI rose 3.5% in the year to July

Inflation falls from June as expected but not by as much as expected. Housing is up 5.0%, food is up 3.2%

Are you solving today’s money problems with tomorrow’s money?

Lynda Moore says when expenses exceed income, it is a signal. Solving the imbalance with more debt might put off the reckoning or the eventual shame. But listen to the signal she says and deal with it

Where will the global bond rout hit growth and equities?

Nouriel Roubini argues that in the US at least, rising yields partly reflect credit demand and potential future growth

The US dollar's outer defenses have been breached

Harold James explains what is really driving the Trump Administration's currency and bond-market interventions

The return of fiscal primacy

From the JPY intervention and the Fed hold to new US tariffs, recent US policy suggests the return of fiscal primacy. Regime change is accelerating, says David Skilling

Why most homeowners don’t need to lose sleep over negative equity

Curtin professor Steven Rowley says homeowners need not worry about recent house price falls if you purchased to live in a house - demographics and structural market imbalances will see you right

What should be done about Asia's undervalued currencies?

Jeffrey Frankel advises the US not to squander what remains of its influence by demanding foreign-exchange interventions

New home loans fall in the June quarter

Finally there is some light in the battle to make housing affordable again. The new Budget rules have quelled residential investor animal spirits that were chasing capital gains and tax advantages

A dovish hold

The RBA has left its cash rate target at 4.35% as widely expected. But is has raised expectations that hikes could come soon if inflation does not retreat in the way they want, but only if market conditions don't move first as they need

Consumers left in the dark about rising car insurance premiums, ASIC warns

ASIC claims car insurance premiums are 'surging' and insurers are opaque about the reasons when communicating with customers. They are baffled why consumers aren't switching even though 'negotiating works'