Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - Heading towards 2% The 0.25% reduction in interest rates, to 3.00% from 3.25%, announced by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand today is the second in a series of cuts that we think could take interest rates all the way... 23rd July 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - Slowdown becoming more widespread While much of the weakness in GDP growth in New Zealand in Q1 was due to the temporary effect of the drought, more recent data suggest that the slowdown is spreading to other sectors. The risks to our... 14th July 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Lower dollar won't prevent further RBA rate cuts Even though the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to leave interest rates on hold at 2.0% for the second month in a row today and did not provide a clear hint that more cuts lie ahead, we still... 7th July 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - Rates may eventually fall below 3% While today's interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), to 3.25% from 3.50%, came a bit earlier than we expected, towards the start of the year we were one of the few analysts... 11th June 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Weakening outlook will prompt RBA to act again We suspect that today’s decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to leave interest rates on hold at 2.0% is nothing more than a pause in the loosening cycle that could yet result in rates... 2nd June 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - New mortgage restrictions raise rate cut chances The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) plan to tighten its macro-prudential polices in order to tame house price inflation in Auckland could be another sign that it is preparing the ground for a... 13th May 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update 2% won’t be the floor The cut in interest rates to a new record low of 2.00%, from 2.25%, announced by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) today is unlikely to be the last in this cycle. Our forecast that both GDP growth... 5th May 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - RBNZ edging closer to cutting rates Although the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) once again left interest rates unchanged today, theshift from a neutral policy bias to an implicit loosening bias supports our view that interest rates... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - Dollar parity wouldn't be a big problem for New Zealand While a strengthening of the New Zealand dollar to parity against its Australian counterpart would be an important milestone, it would have little adverse economic impact. Indeed, the recent weakening... 9th April 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA misses a chance to weaken the dollar By deciding not to cut interest rates today from the current level of 2.25%, the Reserve Bank of Australia missed an opportunity to achieve the further weakening in the Australian dollar that it so... 8th April 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update What does China’s PMI mean for Australia? Although China’s PMI is a relatively poor indicator of the near-term outlook for Australia’s exports, it does tell us how demand in China is influencing the prices of Australia’s key commodity exports... 1st April 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update What does the US Fed mean for Australia and New Zealand Any rise in government bond yields in Australia and New Zealand triggered by the US Fed taking a step closer to raising rates is likely to be temporary, while any weakening in the exchange rates of... 17th March 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - RBNZ to shift from neutral to reverse later this year The Reserve Bank of Australia can’t have its cake and eat it. The only way to ensure that the Australian dollar weakens, which would support the real economy, is to reduce interest rates further, but... 12th March 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Australian rates still likely to be cut to 1.5% this year We believe that the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision not to follow last month’s rate cut to 2.25% with another reduction today is just a pause in a loosening cycle that will take rates down to 1.5... 3rd March 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update 10 key calls on Australia and New Zealand Our full analysis of the prospects for the Australian and New Zealand economies is contained in ourAustralia & New Zealand Economic Outlook (sent to clients today), but in this note we highlight ten... 2nd March 2015 · 1 min read