Reserve Bank keeps powder dry

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Reserve Bank Board meeting The cash rate has left at a record low of 2.25 per cent. The door has been left open to another rate cut. What does it

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07 Apr 2015

Commercial property on Reserve Bank radar screen

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Financial Stability Review Reserve Bank (RBA) warning: “…risks in housing and commercial property markets are rising in association with fast price growth in some cities, heightened investor activity and strong

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26 Mar 2015

Consumers: More confident, better off

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Consumer confidence; Standard of living Consumer confidence: The weekly ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating rose by 0.5 per cent in the week to March 22 to a reading of 111.4,

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25 Mar 2015

Economy-wide spending continues to slow

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Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Index Economy-wide spending grew for the 43 consecutive month in February, but the pace of growth slowed to a crawl in the month. The Commonwealth Bank

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24 Mar 2015

China – the usual worries, but no boom and no bust

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Key points Chinese economic data is off to a soft start this year. However, there are reasons for optimism that growth this year will still come in “around 7%”. Monetary

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19 Mar 2015

Reserve Bank battles fog; uncertain consumers

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Consumer confidence; Reserve Bank Board Minutes Consumer confidence: The weekly ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating rose by 0.5 per cent in the week to March 15 to a reading of

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18 Mar 2015

Dividend bonanza provides boost to the economy

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Economic and Financial market perspectives Dividend bonanza: Over the next two months, conservatively around $25 billion will be paid out by companies in dividends to shareholders, representing 1.5 per cent

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17 Mar 2015

Good, but not great jobs data

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Labour force Jobs rise: Employment rose by 15,600 in February after falling by 14,600 in January (previously estimated at 12,200 drop in jobs). Full-time jobs rose by 10,300 in February

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13 Mar 2015

From Australian to US to European shares – reasons to be optimistic on Eurozone equities

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Key points While Australian shares remain in a longer term period of underperformance relative to global shares and US shares are also relatively vulnerable in the short term to Fed

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12 Mar 2015

Confidence slump; Benign Chinese inflation

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Consumer confidence; NAB Business Confidence; Chinese Inflation Business conditions and confidence: The NAB business conditions index held steady at +2.1 points in February. The business confidence index fell from +3.3

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11 Mar 2015