Other Stockmarket News

The subprime mortgage crisis has created a credit squeeze. The credit crisis has led to increased costs of debt and the lack of investor interest to refinance existing debts, which lead to the collapse of RAMS home loans and also the recent end for packaged mortgages (also called securitisation). Higher interest rates are expected as non-bank lenders cannot offer home loans as a result of the credit crisis. Since non-bank lenders are out of the picture, the lack of competition means higher interest rates.

Aussie Dollar Chart

The Aussie dollar hit a 24-year high this morning against the US dollar greenback. At 7am local Sydney time, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.9565, up more than one US cent from Friday's close of 0.9434. This means imports like electronics and other products from overseas are cheaper. The Australian dollar has more buying power overseas so it is a perfect time to travel or buy up foreign currency, especially the US Dollar.

Treasurer Wayne Swan delivered one of the biggest budgets ever for the nation today for the Australian Budget 2008. Economists and business groups hailed the budget and expressed their confidence in the budget. The Australian financial market also expressed their confidence and expected that the proposed budget shall help to reduce interest rates and benefit the financial markets as well. It is wise to understand that the budget surplus is heavily contributed by the boom in resource prices which is being fuelled by demand in China.

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