Category: News

Madagascar may be best known for talking zoo animals, a monarchy comprised of lemurs, sassy hippos, and flamboyant musical numbers, but the African island just east of Mozambique has a commodity more pressing and vital than dancing primates. 

The more prevalent role that algorithms, automation and data have on our day to day existence, mean that the everyday person is more cogent than ever of the role statistics play in modern life. One statistic which is particularly difficult to ignore for most Australians, despite us hailing from the ‘lucky country’, Australia has the highest cancer rate in the world, with 468 cases per 100,000 people.

Black Earth Minerals (ASX:BEM) have recently announced they have secured ongoing support from the Madagascan Ministry of Mines and Strategic Resources. Following a meeting in June with the Minister, Mr Fidianiavo Ravoktra, the company is pleased to reveal that they had been offered the Minister’s full support for the Maniry project, acknowledging the strategic value that the project holds in one of the poorest parts of the country.

On Tuesday, 30th July, the Australian share market hit its highest level ever, surpassing a record set just before the global financial crisis. It took almost 12 years for the index to get back to this level surpassing the previous all-time high set in 2007.

‘Trade-war’ is a term that has been thrown around frequently to describe the happenings between China and the US over the past few years. As the relationship between the two biggest economies in the world continues to sour, it appears time to reflect on how, exactly, we got to this point.

Over the last decade, technological improvements and algorithmic learning have made rapid improvements to many facets of people’s lives. Smartphones can track daily routines and present a morning alarm, weather schedule and traffic or transport report catered to specific daily plans.

Steam engines, mass production, and Internet technology each brought epic revolution to business. Today we are in the midst of what is often called the fourth industrial revolution – the convergence of physical things with the Internet: the Internet of Things (IoT).

Concerns about the ongoing strength of the international steel market, and consequently the iron ore market, appear unfounded on the basis of recent projections. Although the market is evolving, the commodity as a whole remains strong, with forecasts suggesting that this will remain the case.

As the Australian economy either lurches into a serious downturn or falls deeper into one, depending on your perspective, the Reserve Bank has cut rates in an attempt to stimulate flagging growth numbers. Interest rates have now been slashed to just 1 per cent, a record low and, it’s the second consecutive month that the RBA has been forced to take action.

Global pet care surpassed US$125 billion in 2018 (Euromonitor International). 73% of that was on pet food. What’s more, when recession hits, pet food is the last item on the shopping list to be traded down to a lesser perceived quality or brand. Pet food is marketed to owners not the pets. It’s growing at 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2013 with strong tailwinds for the decade ahead, well ahead of global nominal GDP growth.

The death of 72 people in the 2017 Grenfell fire sparked global outrage. A faulty refrigerator may have been to blame for the incident itself, however the rapid and fatal spread of the fire over the structure’s 24 floors was enabled by its exterior combustible cladding. 

The recent surge in iron ore prices has been largely attributed to the significant shortfalls created in global markets as a result of the Vale mining disaster in Brazil earlier this year. The result of this tragedy was increased demand pressure on reduced supply, naturally inflating prices.