Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Last Tuesday on my live show, I discussed the current Treasury paper on Mandating Cash Acceptance in Australia. But today I want to take this further and I will outline my concern that the Government many well be playing a long con with the community ahead of the upcoming election. The paper says Cash acceptance … Continue reading "Are We In The Midst Of A Cash Long Con?"

This is our weekly market update, where we start in the US, cross to Europe and Asia and end in Australia, covering commodities and crypto along the way. This week we saw more volatility, but with the MSCI global index up 2.56%, and up for the year to date, and 18% for the past year. … Continue reading "Markets Box At Shadows, As Trump 2.0 Arrives…"

Given the current focus on the rise in the use of cash, it is worth remembering that each year Australian households are collectively charged somewhere between 1 billion dollars and 4 billion dollars in payment surcharges, which is a fee paid by customers, in addition to the price of a good or service, allowing merchants … Continue reading "Households Could Save A Billion, Or More…"

Well, we got the December 2024 data on unemployment today, and overall Australia’s unemployment rate remained low in December as the economy extended a streak of hiring gains, underlining the labor market’s unusual resilience to elevated interest rates. Employment jumped by 56,300 — driven entirely by part-time roles — versus a forecast 15,000 gain. The … Continue reading "We Are Rolling In Jobs, Jobs, Jobs… But…!"

Last week the ACCC released their Gas Inquiry 2017-2030 interim report, and it makes horrifying reading. It is such a monumental stuff-up over a couple of generations, it’s hard to believe the corporations did not deliberately set up to maximise profit at the expense of ordinary Australians, while successive Governments were complicit, either because they … Continue reading "The Gas Problem That Will Crush Australians!"

This is an edit of a live discussion with Robbie Barwick, Research Director for the Australian Citizens Party as we discuss the real issues to be chased down this year, even as we face into the upcoming election. Given both major parties seem to be dancing to the same old tune, what should be agenda … Continue reading "DFA Live Q&A HD Replay: The Real 2025 Agenda: With Robbie Barwick"

Another outing with our property insider Edwin Almeida, as we look at the early trends for 2025, against the political backcloth of the upcoming election. Whilst promises are cheap to make, we question their effectiveness, and ask how seriously should we take them. Edwin makes some more predictions, and we look at the latest numbers. … Continue reading "Its Edwin’s Monday Evening Property Rant!"

In this show we look at the latest from our household surveys to end December 2024, and highlight where mortgages stress, rental stress, investor stress and overall financial stress predominates, as housing affordability continues to crash. As a result, the dream of home ownership is becoming a nightmare for many. We also examine the latest … Continue reading "The Great Australian Nightmare…."

This is our weekly market update, where we start in the US, cross to Europe and Asia, and end in Australia, covering commodities and crypto along the way. And this past week saw markets lower, with the MSCI global index down another 1.58% and down nearly 4% for the past month. Wall Street’s main indexes … Continue reading "Brace For Market Uncertainty!"

Yesterday I went through the latest ABS data on retail and highlighted that the Black Friday sales supported household spending growth through November. This is an important indicator on the state of the economy and is a factor which will influence the RBA’s February rate cut call. But just like the proverbial Schrodinger’s cat – … Continue reading "Schrodinger’s Household Spending!"