AU Trimmed Mean CPI q/q

No doubt by now you’ve heard of the better-than-expected June Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) report that was released on Wednesday. The Australian stock market surged to a new high, and both existing and aspiring mortgage holders breathed a sigh of relief – as most economists are now calling the RBA will stand pat when it meets to decide on its official cash rate on Tuesday next week. That’s the key takeaway, a steady cash rate rather than a higher cash rate is good for stocks and good for the economy, because in both cases it ...

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers says his country is on track for a soft landing as a result of "moderating inflation and a resilient labor market." He also says that the relationship with China can be "complex to manage" but there are "good economic dividends" from engaging with Beijing. Chalmers speaks to Haidi Stroud-Watts on the sidelines of the Morgan Stanley Australia Summit in Sydney.

Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in the March quarter figures released on Wednesday, leaving it within spitting distance of the Reserve Bank’s 2–3% target. chart But it’s too early for mortgage holders to celebrate. On Wednesday Westpac noted the pace of improvement was slowing and pushed out its forecast of when the Reserve Bank would begin cutting ...

Asia-Pacific markets extend gains as Wall Street continued to rally for a second straight day and investors look toward first-quarter inflation figures from Australia. Australia’s consumer price index is expected to rise 3.5%, marking its fifth straight quarter of slowing inflation, according to economists polled by Reuters. The S&P/ASX 200 was rose 0.21% ahead of the CPI reading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 popped 1.27%, while the broad based Topix was up 0.71%. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.85%, powered by a 3% gain in heavyweight Samsung ...

The good news for the Reserve Bank of Australia is that it will go into its first policy meeting for 2024 in a better place on inflation than even its own economists were expecting. The bad news is that the hard work is still not done - and if you believe the adage about tempering high inflation, there is more hard work yet to go. Australian inflation, at the headline level, has a 4-handle for the first time since the end of 2021. While it's not a figure in the RBA's cherished 2-3% threshold, a 3.4% inflation print for December is a ...