Author: roymorgansocial

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased 1.8pts to 82.0 after small Budget Boost – good time to buy major household items increased 3% to 22%

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-May-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1.8pts to 82.0 in the week to 19 May. However, despite the increase the index has now spent a record 68 straight weeks below the mark of 85. Consumer Confidence is now 4.7 points above the same week a year ago (77.3), and just 0.4 points below the 2024 weekly average of 82.4. Consumer Confidence was up in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia but down slightly in Victoria. Now 20% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 50% (also unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 33% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 33% (unchanged) also expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 11% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 33% (unchanged) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 22% (up 3ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 50% (down 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Mobile users to face hit in Telstra cuts

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jenny Wiggins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 16 : 22-May-24

Telstra has revealed plans to reduce its global workforce by up to 2,800 before the end of 2024, as part of its plan to reduce costs by $500m via its T25 strategy. The telco has advised that the job cuts and other cost reduction measures will help to reduce its expenses by $350m by the end of the 2024-25 financial year; however, Telstra has conceded that it will fall short of the T25 target. Telstra’s enterprise division is expected to bear the brunt of the job cuts. Telstra will also increase the price of some mobile phone and internet plans.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Albanese vows to get the job done before calling an election

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Joe Hildebrand
The Daily Telegraph – Page: Online : 22-May-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has marked the second anniversary of his government by ruling out an early election, stating that Labor will not to go to the polls until it has addressed the cost-of-living crisis. He adds that reducing the inflation rate is his government’s top priority, and Labor will not focus on its re-election campaign until 2025. Albanese has also noted that handing down a budget amid the current economic conditions is challenging, with the need to balance providing cost-of-living relief with the focus on combating inflation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Business chief warns ACTU wage push will add to inflation

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 22-May-24

The Australian Industry Group estimates that the ACTU’s push for a five per cent increase in the minimum wage would cost $7bn a year. The AiGroup says its own proposal for a 2.8 per cent minimum wage rise would cost just $3.8bn. CEO Innes Willox says the ACTU’s wage claim would boost inflation, cost jobs and ensure that interest rates stay higher for longer. ACTU president Michele O’Neil in turn contends that the peak union body’s proposed minimum wage rise would not be inflationary; she adds that workers’ real wages will go backwards if the Fair Work Commission grants the small increase that has been advocated by employers’ groups.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Dutton’s views on tax credits wrong: MinRes

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 22-May-24

Treasury modelling suggests that mining companies could receive $17.6bn worth of production tax credits over 14 years for the downstream processing of critical minerals. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has labelled the budget measure as "billions for billionaires" and committed to vetoing the policy. However, Mineral Resources’ MD Chris Ellison believes that Dutton will eventually realise that he is wrong to oppose a policy that will support projects that will contribute revenue for more than five decades. Meanwhile, Mineral Resources has begun loading the first shipment of iron ore from its Onslow Iron Project in the West Pilbara; work on the project started less than a year ago.

CORPORATES
MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Readership of magazines is up from a year ago with increases for nine out of 16 magazine categories

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-May-24

The Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to March 2024 shows that 11.6 million Australians aged 14+ (52.3%) now read print magazines, up 1.4 per cent on a year ago. This market broadens to more than 15 million Australians aged 14+ (67.6%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app, which is up 0.1% on a year ago. The increases in readership were widespread over the last year, with a majority of magazine categories (nine in total) increasing their readership. Six of the top 10 most widely read magazines increased their print readership over the last year and, looking more broadly, a majority of 14 of the top 25 have higher print readership than a year ago. Better Homes & Gardens is still Australia’s most widely read paid magazine, with print readership of 1,800,000 (up 0.4 per cent on a year ago), ahead of The Australian Women’s Weekly on 1,266,000. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 64,597 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to March 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Virgin the most punctual airline

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 17 : 22-May-24

Data from the Bureau of Infrastructure & Transport Research Economics shows that 81.4 per cent of Virgin Australia’s flights arrived on time in April. The private equity-backed airline had previously been placed last in the on-time performance data, and CEO Jayne Hrdlicka says it has been "intensely focused" on improving its performance. Meanwhile, 78.4 per cent of Qantas flights and 74.9 per cent of Jetstar flights arrived on time; a flight is considered to be on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time. Failed budget carrier Bonza did not submit any performance data for April, having been placed in voluntary administration late in the month.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS. BUREAU OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT RESEARCH ECONOMICS, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, JETSTAR AIRLINES PTY LTD, BONZA AVIATION PTY LTD

PM equivalates on ICC’s Hamas-Israel equivalence

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ben Packham, Janet Albrechtsen
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 22-May-24

The federal government is under scrutiny over its response to the International Criminal Court’s move to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese initially responded by stating that "I don’t comment on court proceedings". In contrast, US President Joe Biden has labelled the push to charge Netanyahu with war crimes as "outrageous"; he also stated that there is "no equivalence between Israel and Hamas", whose leaders in Gaza may also face war crime allegations. Foreign Minister Penny Wong subsequently issued a statement in which she said the decision on arrest warrants is a matter for the ICC.

CORPORATES
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Mortgage stress increased to 30.8% of mortgage holders in April but remains below highs reached earlier in 2024

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-May-24

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 1,560,000 mortgage holders (30.8%) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to April 2024. This represents an increase of 29,000 (+0.5%) on a month earlier, but remains below the highs reached earlier in 2024. There was no RBA board meeting on interest rates during the month of April. The proportion of mortgage holders now ‘At Risk’ is well below the record high of 35.6% reached during the Global Financial Crisis because of the larger size of the Australian mortgage market today. However, the number of Australians ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 753,000 since May 2022 when the RBA began a cycle of interest rate increases. Meanwhile, the number of mortgage holders considered ‘Extremely At Risk’ of mortgage stress is now numbered at 994,000 (20.2% of mortgage holders), which is significantly above the long-term average over the last 10 years of 14.4%. These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source Survey, based on in-depth interviews conducted with over 60,000 Australians each year, including over 10,000 owner-occupied mortgage-holders.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

House prices bounce in prestige suburbs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Nila Sweeney
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 22-May-24

Data from CoreLogic shows that house prices in some of the more expensive suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne rose by up to seven per cent in the three months to April. The median house price in Sydney’s upper north shore suburb of Gordon increased by 7.1 per cent, after falling by 1.4 per cent in the previous three months. Melbourne suburbs that recorded strong price growth include Kew East, Brighton and Camberwell. Tim Lawless from CoreLogic says it is not surprising that house prices in premium suburbs have risen, given that they have fallen in recent months.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD