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The big news out of Australia this week was that both headline and trimmed-mean inflation in Q2 were lower than most had anticipated. However, we still think it’s too soon for the RBA to declare victory in the war on inflation. After all, services …
28th July 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Retail sales soften anew The sharp decline in retail sales in June suggests that sales volumes fell for a third consecutive quarter in Q2. With the RBA sounding increasingly …
Economic activity slowing and inflation weakening faster than anticipated However, labour market still very tight and services inflation still accelerating Bank to hike to 4.35% next week, but September rate hike is a close call With inflation …
26th July 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. RBA will deliver at least one more rate hike The faster-than-expected slowdown in inflation in Q2 may convince the RBA that it has done enough to rein in price pressures. …
New Zealand inflation looks sticky CPI data published on Wednesday revealed that New Zealand’s consumer prices rose by 1.1% q/q in Q2, only slightly below the 1.2% quarterly rise in Q1. Nonetheless, favourable base effects meant that annual inflation fell …
21st July 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication . Labour market continues full steam ahead With the labour market still running red hot, we think the Reserve Bank of Australia has more work to do. Accordingly, we’re sticking …
20th July 2023
Provisional data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest that consumer spending slumped in Q2, as households sharply pared back discretionary expenditure. Faced with falling real incomes and depleted savings buffers, we think households will only …
19th July 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Headline inflation moderates, but underlying inflation remains elevated Although price pressures are dissipating, they could prove stickier on the way down than we anticipate. As …
18th July 2023
RBA softens tone, but further rate hikes remain likely The minutes of the RBA’s July meeting showed that its decision to hit pause was far from a foregone conclusion. Indeed, the Board did consider the option of a 25bp hike alongside the option of leaving …
As we had anticipated following the publication of the recent review into the institutional framework of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Governor Lowe’s term will end in September. The government announced today that Deputy Governor Bullock will become the …
14th July 2023
The decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to leave rates on hold at 5.50% came as a surprise to no one. Indeed, the Committee noted that monetary policy in New Zealand had turned restrictive far sooner than in many other economies. Although the Bank …
12th July 2023
RBNZ leaves rates unchanged The RBNZ’s decision to leave its official cash rate on hold at 5.50% was widely expected. In fact, all 25 analysts polled by Reuters, including ourselves, had anticipated the pause. The minutes of the July meeting reinforce our …
We expect the RBA to lift rates to 4.85% by November, while the RBNZ's tightening cycle is likely already over with its cash rate now at 5.50%. With house prices now 18% below their January 2022 peak, we think New Zealand's housing downturn has run its …
10th July 2023
Wage growth to climb higher in Australia The big news out of Australia this week was the RBA’s decision to skip a rate hike at its meeting on Tuesday. However, the decision to stay put was largely motivated by a desire to reassess the outlook with a new …
7th July 2023
Net exports will cushion GDP growth in Q2 The rise in the trade surplus, to $11.8bn in May from $10.5bn in April, was stronger than most had anticipated (Refinitiv Consensus: $10.5bn, CE:$10.9bn). Exports of goods and services rose by a solid 4.4% in …
6th July 2023
Press reports suggest that Department of Finance Secretary Jenny Wilkinson is the front-runner to become the next Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, though Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy and RBA Deputy Governor Michelle Bullock are in the …
5th July 2023
RBNZ will leave rates unchanged next week With economy in recession and inflation expectations falling, tightening cycle is over But resilient labour market conditions will delay rate cuts until early-2024 Having raised rates more aggressively than any …
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to keep rates unchanged at 4.10% today suggests that interest rates may not rise all the way to 4.85% as we expect, but further tightening still seems likely . Today’s decision was a very close call: 15 economists …
4th July 2023
Tightening cycle not over yet The RBA’s decision to keep rates unchanged today suggests that interest rates may not rise all the way to 4.85% as we currently expect, but further tightening still seems likely. Today’s decision was a very close call: 15 …
Australia’s house-price rebound showed no signs of slowing in June. However, with the RBA set to swing its rate hammer a few more times, we’re sticking with our view that the upturn will prove fleeting. House prices rose by 1.1% m/m in seasonally-adjusted …
3rd July 2023
The monthly inflation indicator released on Wednesday showed a plunge in headline inflation, but as it happens that fall was driven precisely by the two categories that the ABS strips out from its new measure of inflation excluding volatile items. …
30th June 2023
Labour market still very tight and unit labour cost growth surging Inflation plunged in May but underlying measures moderating less rapidly Bank will deliver 25bp rate hikes at each of its next three meetings While headline inflation plunged in May, …
28th June 2023
Slowdown in inflation not fast enough to prevent further rate hikes The sharp fall in inflation in May raises the risk that Reserve Bank of Australia will not raise any further at the upcoming meeting in July, but we still think that mounting upside risks …
While inflation plunged in May, we still think the Reserve Bank of Australia will raise interest rates again at its July meeting – and push the economy even closer towards recession. In this special, post-RBA briefing in which Marcel Thieliant, our Head …
27th June 2023
Labour market will cool In a speech earlier this week, Deputy RBA Governor Michele Bullock noted that employment was above what the Board would consider to be consistent with its 2-3% inflation target. Indeed, jobs data released last week showed that the …
23rd June 2023
The Reserve Bank of Australia is considering actively selling its bond holdings rather than merely letting them shrink gradually via bond redemptions. The main motivation seems to be to reduce interest rate risk on its balance sheet rather than to tighten …
21st June 2023
Note: We’re talking inflation and the BOJ, slowing Indian growth, and regional monetary easing in our Asia Drop-In on Thursday, 22 nd June. Register now . Overview – With inflation remaining very sticky, we now expect the RBA to lift the cash rate to a …
20th June 2023
RBA will keep hiking to 4.85% The minutes of the RBA’s June meeting largely reaffirmed the Bank’s pivot to a more hawkish stance. To be sure, the Board did discuss the option of leaving rates unchanged, given the ongoing fall in households’ real …
Mortgage defaults will rise in Australia On Wednesday, the Council of Financial Regulators announced its support for the serviceability buffer set by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, reigniting an ongoing debate over the stringency of the …
16th June 2023
Tight labour market will prompt more monetary tightening With the labour market still firing on all cylinders, we’re happy with our forecast that the Reserve Bank of Australia will lift the cash rate all the way to 4.85% by September. The 75,900 rise in …
15th June 2023
Recession will drive RBNZ to cut rates by Q4 The contraction in Q1 GDP means that a recession is now well under way in New Zealand. Accordingly, we’re sticking with our forecast that the RBNZ will shift gears and start cutting rates before year-end. The …
Recession will drive RBNZ to cut rates by Q4 With New Zealand now in recession, we’re more confident that the RBNZ will start cutting rates by Q4 of this year itself. The -0.1% q/q contraction in production GDP was in line with what most, including …
14th June 2023
One reason for the slump in productivity is that the recent surge in working hours is producing diminishing returns. And we suspect that disruptions caused by the pandemic prevented firms from stepping up business investment in response to record capacity …
13th June 2023
Rate hikes will drive double-dip housing downturn The big news this week was RBA Governor Lowe indicating that the Board’s patience to tolerate high inflation was waning. The Bank’s hawkish turn, coming at a time when unit labour costs are growing at …
9th June 2023
Net trade to boost GDP in Q2 The narrowing of the trade surplus in April was driven in large part by a deterioration in the terms of trade. We think net exports will actually provide a modest boost to GDP growth this quarter. The decline in the trade …
8th June 2023
Net trade to boost GDP in Q2 The rise in the import bill in April likely overstates the strength of domestic demand in Australia. The decline in the trade surplus to $11.2bn in April, from a downwards-revised $14.8bn in March, was sharper than most had …
In response to the hawkish shift by RBA Governor Lowe and the further acceleration in unit labour cost growth, we now expect the Bank to lift the cash rate to 4.85% by September. That aggressive monetary tightening will push the Australian economy into a …
7th June 2023
RBA could be forced to keep hiking into economic downturn Real GDP growth slowed sharply last quarter as household spending ground to a standstill. However, with productivity falling for a fourth consecutive quarter, unit labour costs grew apace. …
Flagging productivity raises risk of higher terminal interest rate Although the economy is clearly slowing, dismal productivity gains raise the risk that the RBA will have to raise interest rates above the 4.35% peak we have pencilled in. The 0.2% q/q …
The Reserve Bank of Australia lifted the cash rate by 25bp today and the hawkish tone of the statement suggests that the risks to our terminal rate forecast of 4.35% are tilted to the upside. Indeed, we still think that the Bank will cut interest rates …
6th June 2023
RBA will deliver another 25bp hike next month The Reserve Bank of Australia lifted the cash rate by 25bp today and the hawkish tone of the statement suggests that the risks to our terminal rate forecast of 4.35% are tilted to the upside. Today’s decision …
Largest minimum wage hike in 41 years adds pressure on RBA The 5.75% increase in the minimum wage is the largest on record and adds to the case for the RBA to raise interest rates further. The Fair Work Commission today announced that both the minimum …
2nd June 2023
CoreLogic data published earlier today showed that house prices continue to make gains in May, heightening risks to our long-held view that the housing downturn has further to run. If house prices do stabilise or rise higher, that in turn raises the …
1st June 2023
House prices gain traction With house prices having risen for the third month in a row, there is a growing risk to our view that the housing downturn has further to run. Nonetheless, with rising interest rates set to squeeze affordability even more, we …
Economy softening, but not collapsing Inflation overshooting Bank’s forecasts and upside risks abound We now expect two more 25bp hike in June and July; rate cuts unlikely until Q2 2024 With inflation set to overshoot the Reserve Bank of Australia’s …
31st May 2023
Renewed acceleration will prompt further RBA tightening While the pick-up in inflation in April mostly reflects base effects from the excise duty cut a year ago, trimmed mean CPI picked up as well. With inflation set to overshoot the RBA’s forecasts this …
Renewed acceleration in inflation will prompt further RBA tightening With inflation set to overshoot the RBA’s forecasts this quarter, the Bank will continue to increase interest rates, perhaps as soon as next week. According to the Monthly CPI …
Underlying price pressures moderating The final default market offer prices announced by the Australian Energy Regulator this week were a touch higher in New South Wales than the draft unveiled in March. However, the Victorian energy regulator announced a …
26th May 2023
Sluggish consumption adds to case for RBA pause Coupled with rising unemployment and lukewarm wage growth , the weakness in retail sales in April supports our view that the Reserve Bank of Australia is done hiking interest rates . Retail sales values were …
