By Lucinda Jerogin, Associate Economist at CBA The RBA left the cash rate on hold in a unanimous decision that was widely expected. The Statement took a step in the hawkish direction, but it was the Governor’s post meeting press conference that cemented the end of the easing cycle and warned of potential hikes. The
International Reading: Trump Hit With His Worst-Ever Approval Rating on the Economy – Daily Beast Trump Moves to End a Major Student Loan Forgiveness Program – Time U.S. hits $38 trillion in debt, after the fastest accumulation of $1 trillion outside of the pandemic – PBS Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says U.S. May Be Drastically
Asian share markets are doing quite well in the final but relatively quiet session of the trading week with the USD falling overnight on the bad but good initial jobless claims showing a soft US labour market helping supporting the risk taking. The Australian dollar has taken back its recent dip following the poor local
Late last month, Cotality and Proptrack published two critical housing affordability reports. Cotality’s research revealed that the national median home price relative to median household income reached a new high of 8.2 in Q3 2025, up from 6.4 five years earlier in Q3 2020. The amount of income required to service a new mortgage on
From the Market Ear: Big in small Russell extending the break out move. This looks like an inverse head and shoulders formation. Plenty of room to run before we reach trend channel highs. The Russell fear fade Russell volatility, RVX, just closed at the lowest levels since March. Tech volatility, VXN, not so much… Wow
Australia’s elite universities are accelerating their global expansion plans in response to the federal government’s decision to cap foreign student numbers. Concerned about losing revenue from international enrolments, institutions such as the University of Sydney, UNSW, and the University of Melbourne are exploring offshore campuses in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, partnerships, and joint
When Labor was in opposition, then Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers was a strong proponent of a wide variety of metrics that are championed by economists as more accurate indicators of economic performance. This earned him respect, even from his rivals, though only behind closed doors. But since coming to power, his focus has often turned
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release the official population and migration data for the June quarter of 2025 next week. Ahead of the release of this data, the ABS has released various estimates suggesting that population growth has increased. Thursday’s labour force release for November contains estimates of the civilian population aged 15
In the last four years, expectations for the RBA cash rate have been wildly variable. Back in late 2021, the Commonwealth Bank was projecting a peak cash rate of just 1.25% by the end of 2023. While this estimate may seem low now, it was not alone at the time, as many economists and institutions
Australians experienced one of the world’s largest declines in real per capita household disposable income after the pandemic, reflecting soft nominal wage growth amid high inflation, tax increases, and rising interest payments. Australia’s growth in real per capita household disposable income has also been among the softest in the world over the past decade, according