Fed Chair Powell maintains the “pause not a peak” mantra and the RBA’s decision to increase the policy rate was “finely balanced”

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In his semi-annual report to Congress Federal Reserve Chair Powell reiterated the main themes from his press conference last week following the Federal Reserve’s decision to “pause” the policy rate

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A Fed “pause but not a “peak”? Median “dot plot” sees policy rate at 5.6 per cent by end-2023, dropping to 4.6 per cent by end-2024 

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At its meeting concluding overnight, the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) opted to “pause” in hiking the policy rate hike. However, the Fed indicated that more

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RBNZ breaks on through to the other side: A template for others?

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In something of a surprise move the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) increased the policy rate by “only” 25 basis points (bp) to 5.5 per cent. Moreover, the RBNZ

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Wage price index growth portends ongoing inflation challenges and US debt ceiling disputes

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Yesterday’s April Labour Force Report was on the surface a little softer than anticipated but is not sufficient to move the dial for the RBA from a setting of “inflation

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US CPI: some slivers of good news but no change in “higher for longer” mantra from the Fed

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Wednesday night’s April US consumer price index (CPI) report does contain some slivers of good news, particularly with regard to reduced price pressure in the services sector. However, the overarching

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The Fed is now “one and done and ECB to raise the policy rate 25 bps

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As was widely anticipated the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) chose to increase the policy (federal funds rate) target by 25 bps to an upper limit of 5.25

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Toward a fitter future: Reserve Bank of Australia surprises with a 25 basis point policy rate hike

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In what was a surprise decision, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Board meeting on Tuesday decided to increase the policy rate to 3.85 per cent. Following on from last

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RBA “path” gets a little wider

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Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe and his fellow Board members have had a torrid time of late. In that context, last Wednesday’s March quarter consumer price index

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RBA Review recommendations a positive step but no guarantee against future policy errors

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From a market perspective the main takeout from the review is the establishment of a dual board system: one that makes decisions on monetary policy (setting of the policy rate)

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RBA: Is the narrow path a tightrope?

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Much has been made of the RBA Board’s decision at its April meeting to leave the policy rate unchanged at 3.60 per cent. That “pause” confirms the RBA’s status as

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