The storm hasn’t really quite affect Australia. Even though the stock market is in red and everyone is talking about it but it seems as if life is as normal. Big banks here are starting to embark on their large IT transformation projects. Australia is also experiencing one of the lowest unemployment periods in history. In fact, I was on my lunch break yesterday and I saw heaps of people walking out of a shopping centre with bag loads of sale items. Clearly people are still spending.

There is also speculation that the Aussie reserve bank is going to cut interest rate by 0.5% when they meet next week to combat the effects of the crisis.

Aussie’s market is generally more Asia focused than US, possibly due to geographic distance and Asia has been relatively “okay” even after the credit crisis. Australia has a large amount resources trading with China who is constantly building something, almost to an extent that they have no regards to what happens around the world.

I am sure sooner or later, we’ll be affected but I am just not sure to what extent it would be. I just hope that the rescue package will be passed soon enough. That will surely help to increase the confidence of the market.

This is my layman view of the Australia market and I might be wrong.

BTW Has the economic storm hit Australia yet? The Northern hemisphere is teetering on the brink of meltdown! No doubt people will be paying more attention to the value they receive from their IT investment, amongst other things!

Cheers

Ade