2023-24 Federal Budget Review, Part One
Another Federal Budget is upon us and we have all the salient points across two in-depth articles by head writer Glenn Dyer. This is Part One.
Read MoreAnother Federal Budget is upon us and we have all the salient points across two in-depth articles by head writer Glenn Dyer. This is Part One.
Read MoreAnother Federal Budget is upon us and we have all the salient points across two in-depth articles by head writer Glenn Dyer. This is Part Two.
Read MoreFurther confirmation that the Chinese economy continues to stutter with the slide in imports deepening in April and March’s surge in exports almost halved.
Read MoreThe Australian economy is in good shape leading into tonight’s budget, according to the latest survey of business conditions and confidence from the NAB.
Read MoreAustralia’s retail sales data continued its recent drift in March, according to the latest monthly report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Read MoreThe Reserve Bank’s surprise 0.25% rate rise on Tuesday flew in the face of the widespread belief that it would sit on rates for a second month in a row.
Read MoreA rude wake-up call for the RBA, with gloomy forecasts of a big slump and problems for borrowers blown out of the water by a turnaround in house prices for April.
Read MoreUnexpected retreats in two activity surveys for April released on Sunday show why the Chinese government is increasingly worried about the health of the country’s economy.
Read MoreConsumer inflation at both the headline and core level cooled in the March quarter, adding to the belief that the RBA won’t lift rates at its May policy meeting next Tuesday.
Read MoreInflation dominates Australian sentiment this week, as is the case for the EU, and as will be the case on Friday for US markets, along with the current earnings season.
Read MoreThanks to a surge in household spending and exports, China’s GDP grew at an annual rate of 4.5% in the March quarter – much faster than most had forecast and well up on a year prior.
Read MoreThe RBA certainly seems to feel no compulsion to put the market’s mind at ease about interest rates, choosing instead to send conflicting messages that only add to the confusion.
Read MoreAn unexpected surge in Chinese exports in March doesn’t alter the reality of a weak domestic economy as underlined earlier this week by more deflation in consumer and producer prices.
Read MoreStrong March labour force data released yesterday means the RBA and Federal Treasury will be waiting a while longer for the lagged impact of the rate rises to catch up to the jobs market.
Read MoreLike the March job numbers there was just enough in the US consumer price index data overnight to justify both another quarter of a percent rate hike from the US Fed or a pause.
Read MoreNAB’s March business conditions and confidence survey could be enough to encourage the RBA to leave its hands off the interest rate lever despite ongoing resilience around the economy.
Read MoreDespite the clear impact of the re-opening of the Chinese economy on its huge manufacturing and service sectors, inflation figures released Tuesday tell a very different story.
Read MoreIt was jobs and wages last week for the US, this week it’s Consumer Price inflation and retail sales, with the minutes of the March meeting of the Fed thrown in as a ‘bonus’.
Read MoreSigns of a slowing economy including a 0.7% contraction in 4Q22 didn’t stop the Reserve Bank of NZ from raising its official cash rate by another half a per cent to 5.25% on Wednesday.
Read MoreThe Reserve Bank of Australia has become the first major central bank to pause its campaign of rate increases, leaving its cash rate at 3.6% even though inflation remains very high.
Read MoreThe Australian property market remains tough to read, with ABS statistics out on Monday showing building approvals rose while new housing loans again eased in February.
Read MoreThe Reserve Bank’s rate rises might be taking their time to have a substantive impact on inflation and the labour market, but they are certainly making their mark on retail employment.
Read MoreThe Reserve Bank will almost certainly pause its rate rises at its April monetary policy meeting next Tuesday after the monthly inflation indicator for February fell to an 8-month low.
Read MoreRetail sales were again flat to weak in February, continuing the lacklustre growth first seen last September as the rapid rises in interest rates started biting at consumer spending.
Read MoreUS investors liked, and then reversed their approval of, the 0.25% rate rise from the Federal Reserve and the reasoning that the health of the economy remains the primary concern.
Read MoreAccording to the minutes of its March 7 meeting, the Reserve Bank is close to hitting the ‘P for pause’ button on its monetary policy lever after ten rate rises in the past year.
Read MoreChina has cut the amount of cash its banks must hold as reserves for the first time this year in a clear move to relieve pressure on its banking system and boost its slow economy.
Read MoreDr Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy & Chief Economist at AMP, discusses how US regional bank failures have joined inflation, interest rates and recession risk as concerns for markets.
Read MoreNew Zealand might be the first major economy where economic growth has been battered into contraction by overaggressive tactics in the battle against persistently high inflation.
Read MoreNormally jobs data as strong as we got for February would be enough to send the RBA yanking the half a per cent lever for its cash rate – but these are anything but normal times.
Read MoreIf January and February’s economic data is any guide, the first two months of China’s re-opening after more than two years of Covid lockdowns have been, at best, an uneven experience.
Read MoreFebruary’s US CPI data coming in line with expectations means US interest rates will rise again next week – unless another bank or a big holder of bonds falls over in the meantime.
Read MoreJobs growth looked solid in the early weeks of February, according to the latest ABS payroll data, suggesting today’s labour force data could also meet bullish expectations.
Read MoreThe likelihood of recession has moderated but remains a possibility. Perpetual’s Michael O’Dea looks at three possible scenarios and their implications for portfolio construction.
Read MoreThree key bank-led surveys for February gave mixed readings on business conditions, confidence and consumer sentiment on Tuesday in the wake of the RBA’s 10th rate rise.
Read MoreThe surge in inflation and subsequent rate rises have triggered massive unrealised losses among the world’s central banks, with the the Swiss National Bank one of the worst-hit.
Read MoreThe immediate question facing markets is whether the collapse of SVB will impact the Fed’s monetary policy stance and override concerns from Friday’s job data and tomorrow’s CPI report.
Read MoreThe RBA increased the cash rate by another 0.25%, but its commentary was far less hawkish – here are eight reasons AMP’s Dr Shane Oliver thinks the RBA should now pause.
Read MoreChina’s economic re-opening from the harsh Covid lockdowns of 2022 is going to be a slow and steady process, judging by the first trade data for 2023.
Read MoreIt will pay to keep a close eye on a couple of US statistics in particular over the next few days – tonight’s jobs data and and then next Tuesday’s CPI report, both for the February period.
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