Keynesian purists are all clutching their foreheads, but actually it’s pretty fabulous that Australia’s politicians are competing with each other to promise budget surpluses.
RBA
Flat inflation — cue the ‘rate cut looms’ headline
A flat inflation result for the December quarter opens the way for a rate cut, yes, but watch Greece …
IMF paper positive about Australian banking system
What is disappointing about the reporting of the IMF working paper is the absence of any critical view.
Why the RBA should hold fire on rates
The local and international economies aren’t as bad as many claim, and the RBA should hold off on cutting rates.
Bartholomeusz: banks rattle the rates cage
Having had a week to think about ANZ’s bold move to distance itself from future Reserve Bank rate decisions, two of its peers have passed up the opportunity provided by their AGMs this week to announce they would emulate it.
Banks make huge savings thanks to cheaper local deposits
With the surge in domestic savings (running at 10%) and low demand for loans, banks have been able to build substantial deposit cushions, allowing further cuts in offshore borrowing.
Kohler: the big four’s cloak-and-dagger dance
One of the more bizarre rituals of global finance is the Australian Monetary Policy Dance, where we all wait to see whether an adjustment to official interest rates is “passed on”.
Crikey Says: Media’s bank-bashing ritual? Bah, humbug
Whatever would we do without a round of bank bashing stories this time of year, when all other news content is reduced to How to Baste Your Turkey and Top Ten Top Tens of 2011…
Crikey Says: Crikey says: a very long month in the global economy …
If a week is a long time in politics, then a month in economics is an eternity.
Crikey Says: Europe does matter
We can judge the Europeans severely for their many and varied faults of economic management, but for the sake of Australian jobs we can’t stand idly by while they drag the globe into recession.
Will the Coalition launch an interest rate cut campaign?
Who wants to argue against an interest rate cut? Andrew Robb knew he was on safe ground when he suggested a cut on ABC radio, reports James Thomson.
Virtual (economic) reality: Microsoft Points to future
Microsoft has become the first technology firm to weigh into the debate on innovation in the Australian payments system, calling for the payments infrastructure to be modified to facilitate virtual currencies, writes Technology Spectator’s Charis Palmer.
Australian house prices to track household earnings
Recent claims by The Economist that Australian house prices are overvalued by 55% are almost certainly wrong.
Bartholomeusz: RBA holds, but not for long
Another Reserve Bank board meeting yesterday and another month in which official rates remain unchanged. The next rate rise, however, now definitely appears to be on the RBA’s horizon.
Ask the economists: how do you talk down the dollar?
The Aussie dollar hit US$1.10 this morning, a record against the greenback. It’s great news if you’re planning an Aussie winter jaunt to Palm Springs, not so wonderful if you’re an exporter or manufacturer in Australia. Should the RBA intervene?
Political snippets: A shortage of government debt
I wonder whether shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey will now give a rest to his harping on the horrors of what he describes as excessive government debt?
RBA keeps rates on hold at 4.75%
The RBA kept the official interest rate on hold this afternoon at 4.75%, with governor Glenn Stevens saying mortgage lending rates are now just above average given the banks’ decisions to raise interest rates above the cash rate, writes Smart Company’s Patrick Stafford.
Joye: we have an information exchange for equities — why not debt?
This is an extract of a speech presented by Rismark’s Christopher Joye at last week’s LIXI Industry Forum: One of the problems with managing the Byzantine nexus between extreme asset price and credit cycles, and the ordinarily adverse ramifications of these events for our real-economy, is that policymakers have historically had very poor credit data. […]
Stutchbury: Why nobody picked the rate rise
Before heaping blame on the RBA’s rate rise people need to remember that Australia’s economic circumstances are rapidly changing. Asian demand for our iron ore will drive a massive mining boom and the RBA is determined to keep inflation under control, writes Michael Stutchbury.
Swan to banks: this time it’s personal
Following the RBA’s decision to raise the official interest rate Treasurer Wayne Swan has picked up the phone and vented his spleen directly at bank bosses, while publicly making noises about competition strengthening reforms, writes Phillip Coorey.
Hockey wins big from rate rise
Australian mortgage owners aren’t exactly chuffed by the RBA’s latest interest rate rise, but at least one man would be secretly happy: Joe Hockey. This rise provides a grand finale to his recent round of “Hockeynomics,” writes Lenore Taylor.
The RBA’s shock
announcement
Crikey Media Wrap: While horses were whizzing around the track at Melbourne’s Flemington Race Course, The Reserve Bank of Australia issued a shock announcement that it would straddle mortgage holders with an official interest rate rise of 0.25%.
RBA shocks with 0.25% rate rise
The Reserve Bank of Australia has shocked the market by raising official interest rates by 0.25% to 4.75% this afternoon, citing a looming risk of rising inflation, writes Smart Company’s Patrick Stafford.
CPI figures on the economy: how sweet it is
With growth running at more than 3%, the terms of trade at record levels, unemployment falling, the Australian economy remains in the sweetest of sweet spots for the moment with inflation under control and trending lower.
RBA chief makes it hard to read the interest rate tea leaves
it’s safe to say there are a lot of folk in financial markets (and politics) who will be quietly humming The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again, if they know it, ahead of a speech Monday morning by Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens.
