Friday Tidbit

With the current Middle East conflict, accelerating oil prices and Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff war, clients continue to ask about the probability of a global recession. According to the latest Worldwide Recession Probability data from Franklin Templeton, Australia has a recession probability of 10%, a surprisingly low figure that is also down from last year’s

Kevin Stevens, a client of Newealth since 2002 is fundraising for a fantastic cause to support young athletes on the NSW Mid North Coast. Six years ago, Southern United Football Club (SUFC) was established in Forster to provide a centre for young footballers to train, play and compete against the best in the Newcastle Football

When you hear the phrase ‘AI Race, ’ you’re likely to think of cutting-edge technology, but the key to winning the ‘race’ may be something else – energy generation. As we reported last year, global grid investment was set to top $470 million in 2025, an annual increase of 16%. While a portion of that

Interest rates are once more heading up. Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has adopted a more measured approach, with the cash rate currently around 4.10%. While it may feel like rates have only moved upward, they are cyclical. In 1991, the RBA cash rate was 12%. By December 2001, it had fallen to 4.2%, before

This year has already proved volatile for cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin falling to below US$63,000, its lowest price in five years. In the week leading up to 3 February, the value of Bitcoin fell by about 10% while the second largest crypto, Ethereum, lost about one-fifth of its value. Another popular cryptocurrency, Solana, halved in price.

Early last year, we flagged research that pointed to a probable recession in the United States in 2025. While there was plenty of turmoil last year, particularly after Trump announced stinging global trade tariffs, the economy remained resilient. The lack of follow-through on the proposed tariffs, in combination with a steady labour market and strong

The numbers are in for asset class performance in 2025, and once again, growth assets are the clear winner. Australian and international shares, and Australian property, continue to outperform cash and fixed interest savings. For the calendar year ending 31 December 2025, international shares were the best-performing asset, with a return of 12.5%. For the

While 2025 saw a strong run of monthly gains in property prices and an annual growth of 7.5% year on year (above the decade average of 5.4% per annum), figures slowed in November, with growth of 1% month on month. That’s likely to continue this year, with price growth slowing to around 5%–7%. There are

The new AI movie stars are coming. Tilly Norwood is the precursor to replacing all of us, in all of our employment roles. Or that’s one way things might go. While AI development has been accelerating for several years, it hit its stride in 2025 with the widespread adoption of AI tools such as ChatGPT,

Recent data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis looking at AI contribution to US GDP indicates a sharp rise this year in AI-related economic growth. The figures, a quarter-over-quarter analysis from March 2023 to November 2025, indicate that after a high of approximately 0.75% in December 2023, AI-related contribution has been sitting between 0