Author: roymorgansocial

Musk’s lawyers to fight orders on two fronts

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Original article by Nick Bonyhady, Tess Bennett, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 24-Apr-24

Social media giant X could incur a fine of up to $782,500 for each day it does not comply with a directive to remove video footage of the Sydney church stabbing from its platform. However, X owner Elon Musk contends that the ‘take-down’ order goes too far, given that it applies globally. The US billionaire has expressed concern about one country being allowed to censor content for all countries. Musk’s lawyers have indicated that they could challenge the take-down order in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described Musk as an egotist and accused him of being "out of touch with common decency". Meanwhile, the Coalition has proposed barring young children from using social media to protect them from harmful content.

CORPORATES
X CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Inflation Expectations in late April are at 5.0% – up slightly from the month of March (4.9%)

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

The latest weekly Inflation Expectations are at 5.0% for the week of April 15-21. This figure is in line with the average over the last 12 weeks of surveying since late January – also of 5.0% – and up slightly from the month of March. A look at the monthly Inflation Expectations for March 2024 showed the measure at 4.9% for the month, a decrease of 0.1% points on February (5.0%). The figure of 4.9% for the month of March 2024 was the lowest monthly inflation figure since January 2022 (4.9%). Looking back over the last few months, since mid-December 2023, weekly Inflation Expectations have moved in a narrow band of 4.8% to 5.3%. After March ended, Inflation Expectations moved higher through the first few weeks of April and are now marginally higher in late April. A likely driver of the increases in Inflation Expectations during April is the recent strength in the retail price of petrol, which is now over $2 per litre. The data for the Inflation Expectations series is drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source which has interviewed an average of around 5,100 Australians aged 14+ per month over the last decade, and includes interviews with 5,999 Australians aged 14+ in March 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Fears interest rates could be hiked in 2024

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Original article by Sarah Sharples
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 24-Apr-24

Australia’s employment and inflation outlook has prompted speculation that the Reserve Bank could increase rather than reduce the cash rate in 2024. Another official interest rate rise would put further pressure on mortgage holders. Data from Roy Morgan shows that 1.53 million mortgage holders were at risk of mortgage stress in March; CEO Michele Levine says Roy Morgan’s modelling shows that this would rise to 1.57 million mortgage holders if the central bank were to increase the cash rate by 0.25 per cent in both May and June, to 4.85 per cent.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ROY MORGAN LIMITED

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops 3.2 points to 80.3 – the lowest so far this year

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

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 3.2 points to 80.3 in the week to 21 April, and the index has now spent a record 64 straight weeks below the mark of 85. Consumer Confidence is now only 2.3 points above the same week a year ago (78.0), and 2.5 points below the 2024 weekly average of 82.8. Consumer Confidence was down in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia, but up in Western Australia. Now 18% of Australians (down 4ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 51% (up 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 30% (down 3ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (the lowest figure for this indicator so far this year), while 35% (up 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ (the highest figure for this indicator so far this year). Now just 9% (down 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 35% (up 2ppts) expect ‘bad times’ (the highest figure for this indicator so far this year). Meanwhile, 23% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 47% (also unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

US ‘hasn’t wavered’ on Australian nuclear subs

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 2 : 24-Apr-24

US State Department official Bonnie Jenkins says the Biden administration remains committed to the AUKUS defence alliance, including the sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. Jenkins has also responded to China’s concerns about the AUKUS pact by arguing that it is aimed at ensuring the safety and security of the Indo-Pacific region. She has emphasised that Australia will not be armed with nuclear weapons via the alliance, and the nation is permitted to have nuclear-powered submarines under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. DEPT OF STATE

Stunning equity rallies bring super result

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 24-Apr-24

Data from Chant West shows that the median growth superannuation fund posted a return of 8.8 per cent for the first nine months of 2023-24. This is just shy of the total return of 9.2 per cent for the full 2022-23 financial year. Chant West’s Mano Mohankumar says the performance of Australian and international equities were the key driver for the strong return; he notes that growth funds have gained 11 per cent since November, after losing 1.9 per cent in the first four months of the financial year. Balanced funds delivered a return of seven per cent for the nine months to 31 March.

CORPORATES
CHANT WEST FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD

Security chiefs to target tech giants

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 24-Apr-24

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s director-general Mike Burgess and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw will jointly address the National Press Club on Wednesday. They will urge technology companies to work with law enforcement and intelligence agenies to combat the use of their platforms by criminals and extremists. They are particularly concerned about the use of end-to-end encryption services such as Facebook Messenger and Telegram to disseminate racist and other harmful information and ideologies. Burgess has also warned that artificial intelligence technology will facilitate national security threats such as espionage, foreign interference and radicalisation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

PM betraying Hawke reforms

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Apr-24

Former prime minister John Howard has criticised the federal government’s Future Made in Australia policy. Howard has likened the policy to the "new protectionism" that had been derided by former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke more than three decades ago, and describes it as a betrayal of the reforms undertaken by the Hawke and Keating governments. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described critics of the policy as "flat earthers", but Howard says Albanese "is a flat-earther with the best of them".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Mortgage stress declined in March as household incomes increased and the RBA left interest rates unchanged

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

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 1,531,000 mortgage holders (30.3%) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to March 2024. This was a fall of 98,000 (-1.1%) on a month earlier, after the RBA elected to leave interest rates unchanged for the third straight meeting. The level of mortgage stress in March is the lowest so far this year; this month’s decline has been driven by rising household incomes, which has reduced the financial pressure on some mortgage holders. 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 724,000 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 918,000 (18.7% 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

Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards 2023: the best brands in banking and finance

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

The 2023 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards were presented in Melbourne in mid-April. There were a total of 12 awards in the banking and finance categories, including many companies which backed up on wins a year ago. There were four first time winners, two previous winners returning to the winner’s circle and four companies continuing their winning streaks. One of the most impressive first-time winners was P&N Bank, which won the Bank of the Year award, while the Major Bank of the Year was again won by the Commonwealth Bank after winning nine monthly satisfaction awards during 2023. There were two standouts in the superannuation categories during 2023, with UniSuper winning the Industry Super Fund of the Year for a second straight year and the overall Super Fund of the Year, while Australian Ethical was a first-time winner of the Retail Super Fund of the Year. There were six award winners for the insurance categories, with Australian Unity winning all 12 monthly satisfaction awards to be awarded the Private Health Insurer of the Year – Retail for the first time. Other winners included back-to-back winners RAC (Major General Insurer of the Year) and Real Insurance (Risk & Life Insurer of the Year).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, P&N BANK, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, UNISUPER LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN ETHICAL SUPERANNUATION PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN UNITY LIMITED, RAC INSURANCE PTY LTD, REAL INSURANCE