Articles by Glenn Dyer


Business As Usual: The dollar is travelling well

The booming Aussie dollar is encouraging Australians to travel more overseas, yesterday’s Super Bowl was the most watched game in history and the most watched TV show ever, Clive Palmer is back to his old tricks and more business briefs.

Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: Seven, Nine tie as Ten struggles

Q&A was the highlight last night — not for Kevin Rudd’s appearance, but for the performance of the Gen Y audience who asked good questions, persisted and were not scared.

Rebates to TV networks just an ugly bribe

The three commercial TV networks, Seven, Nine and Ten, went weak at the knees in congratulating the Government for its decision on rebate for licence fees. Can anyone say “election year”?

Business As Usual: What’s Mandarin for boom?

China’s passenger car sales rose 84% last month, why Australia’s rising unemployment is chicken feed in global terms, The Australian carries on like a kookaburra, EMI is skint and more.

Feds tell banks ‘there are no guarantees’

The federal government is finally withdrawing its guarantees to banks and the state governments that allowed both groups to have a good recession. The measures kept our banks alive, but they gave the Big Four too much power.

Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: Nine out of the blocks as ratings start for 2010

It was the first night of 2010 official ratings and a win to Nine, with Ten second and Nine third as Australians said goodbye to summer.

RBA stays strong as the world gets jittery

Wild market gyrations again prove that the headless herd is off, as monetary authorities start to take away the punchbowl of low-cost money.

Business As Usual: Brussels, we have a problem

The eurozone is on the nose as investors, especially hedge funds, are in a frenzy over what might become the next sovereign debt disaster. Plus, a nice graph about Australia’s economy and other business briefs.

Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: Seven holds sway

Only six programs with a million or more viewers last night, less than half Wednesday night’s 13. It wasn’t an inspiring night of television viewing.

Business As Usual: Property still booming … Pay TV in play … Murdoch’s Rosebud moment

Is Austar’s biggest investor about to pull the plug? Plus a stirring performance from Rupert Murdoch, car sales up, a chilly winter for Europe’s retail sector, and other business bits from around the globe.

Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: Already The Biggest Loser for Ten?

It was a solid night for TV addicts: Seven won from Nine, but not by much, and 13 programs had a million or more viewers.

Business As Usual: Everyone got it wrong, the French connection

Trade figures for December confirm another bout of red ink, why every economist got the rate rise wrong, Kim Jong Il catches on to capitalism, and the France Telecom suicide scandal.

News results in: Team Rupe’s coffers swell

News Corp has released is second-quarter and first-half earnings report, with mixed results: cable and operating profits were up, but its digital strategy still looks a crock .

Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: Seven’s reheats fail to impress

Nine programs with a million or more viewers, with Channel Seven winning by a surprisingly big margin. And get ready for tonight, since it’s one of the better nights for TV since last November.

RBA’s holding pattern stumps pundits, punters: no rates rise

The Reserve Bank has defied the pundits’ predictions, leaving rates unchanged at 3.75% at today’s board meeting, but has warned that if the economy continues to grow, then rates will go up again.

NAB: Oz economy to keep growing

We can expect accelerating economic growth, falling unemployment, rising interest rates and higher inflation over the coming two years, according to the National Australia Bank.

Business As Usual: Life’s a beach for Westpac’s Kelly … a chocolate-flavoured degree

TV news is not all bad … poor Obama … and Westpac does its bit to keep housing prices afloat.

Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: Nine wins as Seven Rules the waves

A solid win for Nine last night as the commercial networks start heating up for the ratings season. Right now, Nine’s warm, Seven lukewarm and Ten’s cool.

We were warned: interest rates will rise

When interest rates are raised today, we can’t say that we weren’t warned. RBA chief Glenn Stevens told us last year we had a chance of avoiding it and we muffed it.

Australia’s housing bubble: it’s already here

The evidence is in: Australia is right in the middle of an emerging housing bubble. A rate rise of 0.50% can be justified tomorrow from the RBA on house price figures alone, with Melbourne prices soaring nearly 20%.

World’s economies steering different paths

A flood of figures and announcements from governments on Friday tell very different stories about where some of the world’s major economies are a month into 2010.

News Ltd surrenders $500m to make court case go away

News Ltd has given new meaning to the word “paywall”, recently shutting down what looks like to have been an emerging PR and business debacle in an American court.

Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: Pretty happy night for our TV networks

Most of the commercial stations will be quite content with last night’s ratings, thanks to eight programs with a million or more viewers, including tennis, cricket and the first new reality TV of the season.

Nervous bankers produce lending slump

Bank lending perked up in December, but 2009 as a whole saw the lowest growth in 17 years, thanks in part to a sharp slump in lending to business that was driven, ironically, by banks themselves.

Bernanke and Greece bailout: will it be enough?

The jury is still out as to what effect Ben Bernanke’s re-appointment and Europe’s willingness to bailout Greece will have on global markets.