Weekly economic and market update – week ending 31 January, 2025

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Investment markets and key developments Global shares were mixed over the last week with US shares down as tech shares fell on the back of the rise of DeepSeek’s AI... Read more continue reading

The Fed: extended sabbatical or a short break

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As was pretty much universally expected the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the policy rate target range unchanged at 4.25-4.50 per cent when it met overnight. The Fed... Read more continue reading

The Fed’s dilemma and wage growth

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As the Reserve Bank of Australia decides on the next interest rate movement, Mahmood Pradhan, Head of Global Macro, Amundi Investment Institute looks at the state of current rate policy... Read more continue reading

CommSec State of the States: State and Territory Economic Performance Report, January 2025

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Overall results How are Australia’s states and territories performing? Each quarter CommSec attempts to find out which state or territory is Australia’s economic leader. Now in its 16th year, the report also... Read more continue reading

Weekly economic and market update – week ending 24 January, 2025

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Investment markets and key developments Global and Australian shares saw a relief rally over the last week as President Trump provided no negative surprises and there was a lack of... Read more continue reading

What’s driven the fall in the $A? Does it threaten inflation and RBA easing?  

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Key points The $A has been hit since September by the return of Trump, a hawkish pivot by the Fed versus the RBA and concerns about the outlook for iron... Read more continue reading

Weekly economic and market update – Week ending 17 January, 2025

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Investment markets and key developments Shares mostly rose over the last week helped by lower-than-expected underlying inflation in the US which boosted confidence that the Fed was still on track... Read more continue reading

US CPI is better but still “sticky” and December labour force data could be pivotal for the RBA

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US CPI: better but still “sticky”. The Fed policy rate: ditto. Where to for US bond yields? The robust December payrolls report was something of a death knell for a... Read more continue reading

More volatile and constrained – the macro investment outlook for 2025

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Key points 2024 was another strong year for investors with shares up strongly on the back of better than feared growth & profits and global central banks cutting rates. Volatility... Read more continue reading

The Fed: diluting the punchbowl?

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Former Federal Reserve Chair William McChesney Martin was the longest serving Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair, serving almost 19 years until January 1970. He is famous for his description of the... Read more continue reading