Australian interest rates

The independent review of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is slated to report to the federal government in mid-2023.

Barclays with the note: The final print of the June University of Michigan measure revised five- to ten-year inflation expectations down to 3.1%, from 3.3% in the preliminary print.

Recent statements by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) suggested that wage pressures were building based on spurious business liaison ‘evidence’.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has dismissed RBA governor Phil Lowe’s fears of a wage-price spiral as a “boomer fantasy”, given Australia abandoned centralised bargaining and wage indexation decades ago: “We’re not achieving 3.5 per cent, let alone 5 per cent, let alone 7 per cent.

Barring some new and nasty shock, it appears the bond bear market is over.

Bill Evans is now cheering on the great Australian house price crash and subsequent recession with the rest of the world.

Some eye-popping charts from Deutsche.

After spending years complaining of low wage growth, RBA governor Phil Lowe yesterday warned of the need for wage restraint, arguing that 5% pay rises could see high inflation become entrenched.

Roy Morgan has modelled the direct impact of the existing 0.75% lift in the Official Cash Rate (OCR) in May and June on Australian mortgage holders, as well as the expected interest rate increases of 0.5% during each of the next two months.

The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index has been released, with confidence rebounding 1.6%; albeit remains at recessionary levels: According to ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank: Consumer confidence increased 1.6% last week after a 7.6% decline the week before.

RateCity’s Sally Tindall warns that millions of Aussies that locked in ultra low fixed mortgage rates during the pandemic face a massive rise in mortgage repayments when their loan terms expire: “Borrowers’ fixed rate immunity will only last for so long.

Unions across a range of sectors will now push for larger inflation-adjusted pay rises for their members in the wake of the latest minimum wage case.

Nobody does QE like the BOJ.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Philip Lowe had pushed for a review of it to be undertaken by the central bank itself, in partnership with the Treasury.

Deutsche is owrried about it: The topic of today’s CoTD is the BoJ who meet on Friday.

SQM Research has released its rental vacancy data for May, with the national rental vacancy rate falling 0.1% to 1.0% – a new 16-year low: As shown above, rental vacancies are tracking below 1% everywhere but Sydney and Melbourne.