US Inflation Expectations Steady; Consumers Expect Worsening Financial Situations and Rising Medical Costs

China’s exports massively beat market expectations in November as manufacturers rushed to ship out inventory on the back of a trade deal with Washington, following a meeting between the leaders of the world’s top two economies. Outbound shipments surged 5.9% in November in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, China’s customs data showed Monday, topping ...

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 3.60 per cent. While inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, it has picked up more recently. The Board’s judgement is that some of the recent increase in underlying inflation was due to temporary factors and there is uncertainty about how much signal to take from the monthly CPI data given it is a new data series. Nevertheless, the data do suggest some signs of a more broadly based pick-up in inflation, part of which may be persistent and will bear close monitoring. Economic activity continues to recover. Growth in private demand has strengthened, driven by both consumption and investment. Activity and prices in the housing market are also continuing to pick up. Financial conditions have eased since the beginning of the year, credit is readily available to both households and businesses and the effects of earlier interest rate reductions are yet to flow through fully to demand, prices and wages. On the other hand, money market interest rates and government bond yields have risen more recently. Various indicators suggest that labour market conditions remain a little tight. The unemployment rate has risen gradually over the past year and employment growth has slowed. However, measures of labour underutilisation remain at low rates, surveyed measures of capacity utilisation are above their long-run average and business surveys and liaison *RBA LEAVES CASH RATE TARGET AT 3.60%; EST. 3.60% *RBA: INFLATION HAS PICKED UP MORE RECENTLY *RBA: EMPLOYMENT GROWTH SLOWED *RBA: RISKS TO INFLATION HAVE TILTED TO THE UPSIDE RBA notes that while global economic risks are substantial, the effect on growth and trade in Australia’s major trading partners has so far been limited.

Gold (XAU/USD) retreats on Monday as traders brace for the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting, where the central bank is expected to deliver its third consecutive rate cut, ahead of 2026. At the time of writing, XAU/USD trades at $4,195, down 0.27%, after hitting a daily high of $4,219,. The rise of US Treasury yields is capping bullion’s advance, with sellers ...