It's Tuesday afternoon as I write this post. I have no idea what happened in the Melbourne Cup. I have not the faintest interest. The RBA hiked rates by 0.25% thanks to the price of fuel (see chart below). It's pretty hard to control fuel prices with local rate hikes, but then again, crazier things have happened before. I feel like the RBA has been so behind the eight ball in the past that they don't want to be caught out again. They've based their decision on their forecasts, which have been terribly wrong in the past, so I don't know why their confidence in their own forecasts remains so high. And WeWork files for bankruptcy in the US as it grappled with pricey leases it had signed before the COVID-19 pandemic and weak occupancy rates as hybrid working gained popularity.

If you live around Melbourne's eastern suburbs, you may have attended "Halloween" at Greythorn Central in Balwyn last week. My two boys dressed up as Squid Game. Here they are, dressed up and ready to take your lollies - crazy kids. And no, they have not watched the series. You can thank Mr Beast forthe education.

Thank goodness the third quarter of 2023 is over. September was just a washout. Most asset classes and most country stock markets were down for the quarter, even though July was a solid month to the upside. Having said this, the US stock market (S&P 500) is still up about 13%, and the Nasdaq 100 up about 35% for the year.

Wait for spring they said. Property will flood the market they said. It will pull prices down they said. Yet here we are, one third of the way through spring and national prices up 2.5% for the quarter (ending 30 September 2023). Anyone annualising these numbers? 10% pa. Any takers? I thought not.

It's 2020. The world has been hit with a global pandemic. Stocks fall the fastest and sharpest on record, and for the shortest duration. Things that couldn't or shouldn't happening are happening everywhere you look. Stocks bottom out in March of 2020 and are off into bull market territory - yet no one believes the market.

And just like that the school holidays are over. I celebrated another birthday, and the Pies won another flag - the best birthday present I could ask for, how good. My wife and I took the boys on a road trip for two weeks - up from Melbourne, through Glenrowan and Gundagai, up to Bondi and down along the coast through Narooma, Jervis Bay, Pambula, and Lakes Entrance. We had such a blast, lot's of family time in nature, our thing.