Malcolm Maiden
Malcolm Maiden analyses and comments on business, the markets and the economy.
Comment
RIP Ford, the first domino to fall
Malcolm Maiden Ford's decision to quit manufacturing at a cost of 1200 jobs is a blow for Australia, and Victoria in particular.
Malcolm Maiden
Hammer blow for local industry
Malcolm Maiden Ford's decision to quit local manufacturing is an ominous portent for Toyota and Holden.
Comment
Brookes spooked, with good reason
Malcolm Maiden After announcing that he had eked out a fourth consecutive quarterly sales increase for the Myer group with a 0.
Telcos
Job cuts loom at Telstra
Malcolm Maiden Telstra has told its workforce that it is planning sweeping changes to the way it manages its operations, in a restructure that is likely to lead to significant job cuts in Australia.
Malcolm Maiden
Bond market almost worth the wait
Malcolm Maiden The new ASX market in trading government bonds will probably develop slowly.
Malcolm Maiden
China's State Grid powers up in Australia
Malcolm Maiden In the electricity industry, Chinese government-owned State Grid Corporation is the global whale.
Budget circles on a doubtful dollar
Malcolm Maiden As Wayne Swan set out to sell his budget on Wednesday morning the Australian dollar dipped below US99¢ for the first time in 11 months.
Malcolm Maiden
Budget circles on a doubtful dollar
Malcolm Maiden Dollar's fate and the economy's are entwined regardless of who is running the country after the September election.
Budget
Resource price cycle taking Swan for a ride
Malcolm Maiden The Coalition says Labor has been over-spending. Labor says it's a victim of economic circumstance. Neither is completely wrong, nor completely right.
Malcolm Maiden
Covenant-light lending making its presence felt again
Malcolm Maiden Competition is feral at the institutional end of the fierce banking industry.
Telecoms
Steady as it goes for Thodey as he makes the judgment calls
Malcolm Maiden The Telstra CEO has helped to boost the share price since he took the reins, but he's not ready to rest on his laurels.
Malcolm Maiden
Caution surrounds comeback of covenant-light
Malcolm Maiden Competition is feral at the institutional end of the banking industry and in the big banks a recent development has everyone talking: covenant-light lending appears to be making a comeback.
Malcolm Maiden
Trust British banks? NAB sure can't
Malcolm Maiden NAB is a good Australian banking business with a very ordinary British banking business attached.
Malcolm Maiden
NAB shines light on banking sweet spot
Malcolm Maiden Banks continue to be a curious sweet spot. Only a collapse in economic activity threatens them. And while that is not impossible as the resources investment boom ends, it is improbable.
Malcolm Maiden
Even with low rates, RBA signals more falls could come
Malcolm Maiden The Reserve Bank had been signalling since it's last cut that it had room to go even lower.
Malcolm Maiden
RBA hints at more rate cuts to come
Malcolm Maiden This was a close call for the Reserve Bank, but it still signals that rates could fall even further.
Malcom Maiden
Banks' soaring success becomes a pressure point
Malcolm Maiden A split between the margins Westpac is getting on its high-end institutional banking business and the ones it is getting on business and home lending suggests that pressure on the banks to cut...
Malcolm Maiden
Time nears for banks to cut rates
Malcolm Maiden As they post another round of bumper profits, the banks can no longer argue that they need to retain some part of any future rate cut.
Malcolm Maiden
All that sparkles for Rio's diamonds
Malcolm Maiden The diamond industry that Rio Tinto is looking to sell out of has a lot in common with the gold industry.
Farm profits depart as locals sit on sidelines
Malcolm Maiden The wave of foreign takeovers of local grain groups is arguably a result of overregulation.
