Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Rate cuts will come back onto the RBA’s agenda before long By leaving interest rates on hold at 2.0% for the fifth month in a row today, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) demonstrated that the recent falls in equity prices have not increased its appetite... 6th October 2015 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update TPP is potentially a “big deal” but only over the long term The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement which was announced today may not see the light of day for some years. Assuming, however, that it is eventually implemented, it should have large and... 5th October 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Australia outperforming other commodity producers While we remain concerned about the outlook for the Australian economy, we think it will continue to outperform other commodity producers such as Canada, Brazil and Norway. Australia’s labour market... 2nd October 2015 · 1 min read
RBA Watch China concerns unlikely to prompt action Concerns over the health of China’s economy and the fall in domestic equity prices are unlikely to prompt the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut interest rates from 2.0% at the meeting on Tuesday... 29th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Rising housing wealth cushioning equity price fall While we remain more concerned than most about the Australian economy, the latest fall in equity prices won’t significantly restrain consumption growth. There is plenty of scope for households to... 25th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Slowdown becomes a little sharper Although we wouldn’t recommend placing too much weight on the quarterly rate of GDP growth in any one quarter, the respective 0.2% and 0.4% rises in Australia and New Zealand in the second quarter... 24th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Higher US rates will be good for Australia & New Zealand A faster rise in interest rates in the US than widely expected next year will provide a welcome boost to the economies of Australia and New Zealand by leading to a further depreciation of their... 18th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand GDP (Q2) The disappointingly soft rebound in GDP in the second quarter supports our below consensus forecasts that the economy will grow by just 2.0% this year and that the RBNZ will cut interest rates from 2... 17th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economic Outlook Weaker dollar won't prevent further slowdown Even though we expect both the Australian and New Zealand dollars to weaken further, to around US$0.60 and US$0.55 respectively, this won't be enough to prevent GDP growth in both economies from... 16th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly The risks to our interest rate forecasts While the risks to our forecast that the central banks of Australia and New Zealand will eventually reduce interest rates to new record lows of 1.5% and 2.0% respectively (from 2.0% and 2.75% now) are... 10th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Employment (Aug.) Another healthy gain in employment in August, as well as a slight fall in the unemployment rate, continued the strong run of Australia’s labour market. The slowdown in GDP growth this year may still... 10th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - Another step on the way down to rates of 2.0% The most important part of today’s policy announcement by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is not the third consecutive 0.25% cut in interest rates, to 2.75%, but the Bank’s growing acceptance that a... 10th September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Australian dollar has yet to find a floor Our view that the annual rate of GDP growth in Australia will slow further in the second half of the year suggests that the Australian dollar may yet weaken from its current six-and-a-half-year low of... 4th September 2015 · 1 min read
RBNZ Watch New Zealand - Heading down to 2% The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is all but guaranteed to cut interest rates by 0.25% for the third meeting in a row, from 3.00% to 2.75%, on Thursday 10th September. We wouldn’t completely rule... 3rd September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia GDP (Q2) Australia's economy slowed sharply in the second quarter, increasing the chances that growth will fall short of the Reserve Bank of Australia's forecasts for this year and next. Given this, rate cuts... 2nd September 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA may yet have to change tack on rates While the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision to leave interest rates on hold at 2.0% for the fourth meeting in row suggests that the chances of further rate cuts have faded further, we still... 1st September 2015 · 1 min read
