Summary: Interview with Andy Sheats, founder and CEO of online health insurance company health.com.au Interview with economist Stephen Koukoulas about the state of the US economy and its impact on Australia. He says the Australian dollar is heading to parity Leon and Garry talk about issues including: · The new iPad Air with upgraded and faster guts with the addition of an A7 chip. Apple claims it's up to eight times faster than the old models and has a 10-hour battery life. a thinner, sleeker and lighter design than the last model. But what impact will that have on the PC market. Analysts predict PC sales will slow sharply · In the first major gauge of the US economy released by the government after the partial shutdown that started Oct. 1 and shuttered agencies that compile the data and coming more than two weeks after it was originally scheduled for Oct. 4, US employers added only 148,000 jobs in September, a sign hiring stumbled heading into Washington's latest round of budget battles. It’s a problem for the Fed because the central bank’s threshold after which it will consider raising interest rates is 6.5 per cent unemployment, it’s now 7.2 per cent. The fear, which gets worse every month is that with each month this continues, is that many people have retired or gone on disability benefits and may never look for a job again. That’s one of the most serious questions about the way the US economy is heading. · Because of the issues in the US, good prices for resources and solid news coming out of China, the Australian dollar continues to rise, now trading above 96 cents and heading towards parity. · This is troubling news indeed for both Australia’s Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens and Treasurer Joe Hockey. Stevens first. The governor said back in September that it would be "helpful" if the Aussie dollar was a bit lower. But since then, the dollar has gained ground, from $US90 cents to $US96 cents. A high Australian dollar is also a problem for our L-plate Treasurer, Joe Hockey. Treasury's latest budget forecasts, released in August, were based on a falling dollar helping to support economic growth. At the time, the dollar had fallen below $US90 cents. According to economist Chris Richardson at Deloitte Access Economics, every 1 per cent fall in the Aussie dollar gives a net saving to the budget of about $400 million a year over the budget's four-year horizon. But it all makes the longer-term budget repair job much harder to achieve. Congress' budget problems look set to dog our own budget for years to come. · A look at winners and losers from the dollar’s rise. Gainers from a strong currency are companies that buy imports and overseas services like The Reject Shop, Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi. A higher dollar gives them more buying power, and higher profit margins. But losers will include BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Cochlear and CSL.
