RBA Governor Lowe thinks house prices not the biggest problem in the economy; banks warn interest rates to be cut as unemployment rises; and "Perfect Storm" for Australian coal projects could be indicative of the industry's decline. Here's what's happening in markets today. 

What I'm reading

Falling house prices not the problem

While investors and first home buyers alike have their attention fixed on falling house prices, the RBA Governor told the House of Reps recently that it's high levels of government debt and low interest rates that pose the biggest risk to the economy. 

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Multiple banks warn on rising job losses and falling rates

AMP, UBS, and others have all warned recently that the RBA would be forced to slash rates (potentially to zero percent) as job losses accelerate in the construction industry. 

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Perfect storm for Australian coal projects

A court ruling, a ban on Australian coal imports at Dailan, and an announcement from Glencore have struck fear into the hearts of Australian coal developers. With $50B of project in the pipeline, this could have a real impact on investment. 

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Key market data

• ASX Futures: 6,143.5 (+0.63%)
• AUD/USD: 0.7139 (-0.67%)
• ASX200: 6,150.30 (+0.36%)
• S&P 500: 2,792.38 (-0.05%)
• China A50: 12,525.09 (+0.59%)
• Australia 2-yr bond: 1.733 (-0.17%)
• Australia 10-yr bond: 2.104 (+0.57%)
• US 2-yr bond: 2.500 (+0.64%)
• US 10-yr bond: 2.686 (+1.82%)
• Gold (USD/oz): 1,321.70 (-0.51%)
• Copper (USD/lb): 2.967 (+0.75%)
• Brent Oil (USD/bbl): 66.56 (+2.07%)
• 62% Iron Ore (USD/t): 83.3 (-0.24%)

Stocks to watch

The following companies had reported results today at the time of writing:

• Harvey Norman Holdings (HVN)
• Galaxy Resources (GXY)
• Cromwell Property Group (CMW)
• Blue Sky Alternative Investments (BLA)
• Air New Zealand (AIZ)
• Atlas Arteria (ALX)
• QMS Media (QMS)
• AMA Group (AMA)
• Decmil Group (DCG)
• Adelaide Brighton Corporation (ABC)
• Ingham’s Group (ING)
• Austral (ASB)
• Johns Lyng Group (JLG)
• Ramsay Health Care (RHC)
• Murray River Organics (MRG)
• Lynas Corporation (LYC)
• Ocean Grown Abalone (OGA)
• Techniche (TCN)
• InvestSmart Group (INV)
• N1 Holdings (N1H)
• Adherium (ADR)
• Vault Intelligence (VLT)
• HiTech Group (HIT)
• IODM (IOD)
• Firstwave Cloud Technology (FCT)
• UCW (UCW)
• Aquis Entertainment (AQS)
• Brainchip Holdings (BRN)
• Pinchme (PIN)
• Global Value Fund (GVF)
• Althea (AGH)
• Etherstack (ESK)
• Tap Oil (TAP)
• Vmoto (VMT)
• Tomizone (TOM)
• eServGlobal (ESV)
• AuMake International (AU8)
• 1^st Group (1ST)
• Elsight (ELS)
• Knosys (KNO)
• Spirit Telecom (ST1)
• The BetMakers Holdings (TBH)
• DropSuite (DSE)
• Invigor Group (IVO)
• Credible Labs (CRD)
• Phospagenics (POH)
• Phoslock Environmental Technologies (PET)
• Propertylink Group (PLG)
• Memphasys (MEM)
• XREF (XF1)
• Orcoda (ODA)
• Weebit Nano (WBT)
• TPI Enterprises (TPE)
• Elmo Software (ELO)
• Hillgrove Resources (HGO)
• Site Group (SIT)
• Doray Minerals (DRM)
• Coassets (CA8)
• CI Resources (CII)
• New Zealand King Salmon (NZK)

Upcoming releases and events

• Private Sector Credit, Private CapEx, and HIA New Home Sales for Q1 are all released today at 11:30am AEST
• US GDP for Q4 is released on Friday at 12:30am AEST
• European Unemployment for January is released at 9pm Friday AEST.

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