Gold/Silver

It is an honour to be asked to deliver this, the second Sir Douglas Copland Memorial Lecture.1 I must confess, however, that my topic owes more to the work of Bill Phillips than it does to Copland. Before you throw me out, let me try and convince you there are enough parallels to let me stay! First, both Copland and Phillips came from rural backgrounds in New Zealand to become adopted sons of Australia. Copland was born in Otaio in the South Island but nearly his whole adult life was spent here, dominating economic affairs for a large part of the 20th century. He was the driving force behind the foundation of the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand, serving as its first president in the 1920s, and he chaired the expert committee behind the Premiers’ Plan in the 1930s, led the Commonwealth Prices Commission during the Second World War, and served as the inaugural professor of economics at the University of Tasmania, the founding Dean of commerce at the University of Melbourne, and the first Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU). In 1933, on the recommendation of Keynes, he gave the first Alfred Marshall Memorial Lectures at Cambridge, then the most prestigious lecture series in global economics. Phillips was born in Te Rehung RBAS's Hauser: Still have work to do to reduce inflation, which remains far too high RBA’s Hauser said that quicker action on inflation could reduce the resulting rise in unemployment.

CNBC's Matt Peterson reports on news regarding the Federal Reserve.

CNBC's Matt Peterson reports on news regarding the Federal Reserve.

The search for a new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta — now entering its seventh month — is being watched carefully for how new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh intends to reshape the interest rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee. That process has shifted as Warsh has begun to put his stamp on the central bank. The Fed was considering ...

This morning we found out that Euro-area business activity shrank less than anticipated in June (Services up/beat, Manufacturing down/miss). S&P Global’s Composite PMI rose to 49.5 from 48.5, topping estimates but remaining below the 50 mark that indicates growth. "The eurozone economy is showing enough resilience to just about stay out of recession." ...

Kevin Warsh feels strongly that the Fed should stop micromanaging markets. In fact, he feels so strongly about this that last week’s FOMC statement dropped its forward guidance, he didn’t contribute to the infamous “dot” plot, and refused to answer any and all questions in the press conference on the path ahead for monetary policy. You can debate whether ...

UK private sector activity contracted for the second month in a row in June, as sustained weakness in the services sector overshadowed a further, albeit temporary, boost to manufacturing output. Overall new business volumes declined at the fastest rate in 14 months, leading to a steeper drop in backlogs of work and a trimming of headcounts. Input prices ...

Business activity in France's private sector continued to decline in June, according to S&P Global 'flash' PMI data, stretching the current downturn into its sixth month. There was some reprieve, however, as the rate of contraction slowed sharply from May, with softer declines in output recorded in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Some other ...

The latest Flash PMI® data, compiled by S&P Global, pointed to the strongest rise in total business activity across Japan's private sector for three months in June. This was supported by a quicker increase in manufacturing output and a renewed upturn in services activity, with both sectors reporting firmer demand conditions. Greater amounts of backlogged ...

The Federal Reserve has for decades moved steadily from a remote, opaque government agency that shared little about what it did or why to a more transparent institution willing to explain how it makes decisions and what it thinks about the economy. But in his first press conference last Wednesday, new chair Kevin Warsh began to reverse some of those steps. ...