Today
Fed embraces ‘bigger and faster’ tightening
Central banks are increasingly embracing “bigger and faster” interest rate increases to end skyrocketing inflation even at the risk of a recession.
- Cecile Lefort
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Shock and Orr: Why the RBNZ has no regrets raising rates
The message from New Zealand is that central banks may be prepared to inflict more pain on borrowers than we appreciate.
- Jonathan Shapiro
This Month
- Opinion
- Federal election
Climate, housing, social policies will define Labor’s success
Anthony Albanese has a mandate to change the country – Australia needs more than another do-nothing government that shirks major reform.
- David Bassanese
Labor spending pledge supports case for higher rates
The cost of living is about to go higher as the newly elected Labor government’s spending plans reinforce the RBA’s path of higher interest rates.
- Cecile Lefort
Boris Johnson and BoE engulfed in crisis as UK inflation soars
The British PM faces yet another crisis as consumer prices surged 9 per cent in the year and a poll found a record number of people thought he had handled the economy badly.
- Philip Aldrick
Rate rise expectations cool after soft wages
The Australian dollar fell and bond prices rallied after underwhelming wage price index data cooled investor expectations for outsized interest rate increases ahead from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
- Updated
- Cecile Lefort
China’s economic woes add to RBA’s policy challenge
The deterioration in the Chinese economy is becoming a growing concern for the RBA as it assesses the magnitude and the pace of its monetary tightening in June.
- Cecile Lefort
Bonds regain defensive appeal despite vicious tumble
Investors tip-toe into government bonds as central banks tighten monetary policy to combat inflation, squeezing yields higher.
- Alice Gledhill and Liz Capo McCormick
Chinese property to bounce on stimulus, forecasts BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas Asset Management is positive on China’s property outlook after Beijing’s latest round of stimulus to stabilise the troubled sector.
- Cecile Lefort
El Salvador’s bitcoin losses are as big as its next bond payment
The rout that has driven bitcoin sharply lower has deepened President Nayib Bukele’s cumulative losses on his government’s holdings.
- Aline Oyamada and Michael McDonald
Stubbornly high US inflation bolsters Fed tightening path
Stronger than expected US inflation data provided further ammunition to Fed hawks calling for a faster pace of policy tightening, sending stocks and the Australian dollar lower.
- Cecile Lefort
The RBA’s yield curve control worked well – until it didn’t
The emergency measure introduced during the pandemic was an efficient tool, but one with a limited lifespan, according to a new report.
- Cecile Lefort
US Fed tightening and China lockdown rattle investors
Worries about how far the US Fed is willing to go to tame inflation, and China extending lockdowns, have kept investors on edge, sending shares and bond prices lower.
- Updated
- Cecile Lefort
Australian dollar turbocharged by Powell’s calm
The Australian dollar received a huge fillip and local stocks rose after the US Fed appeared less aggressive than investors had anticipated on the future path of interest rates.
- Cecile Lefort
‘Larger increase in the cash rate is likely’: Westpac’s Bill Evans
The four major banks have upgraded their cash rate forecasts, taking it beyond 1 per cent by November with Westpac chief economist Bill Evans forecasting super-sized moves sooner than later.
- Updated
- Cecile Lefort
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
The West should guarantee Ukraine’s war bonds
Isolationists would say that guarantees could cost overburdened Western taxpayers too much. I would argue that the price of permitting a Russian victory is too dear for the West.
- Updated
- Jonathan Guthrie
Biggest treasury buyer outside US quietly offloading billions
Japanese institutional managers – known for their legendary US debt buying sprees in recent decades – are now fuelling the great bond sell-off.
- Michael MacKenzie and Chikako Mogi
RBA to sharply upgrade its inflation forecast
The Reserve Bank’s revised economic forecasts will likely feature a sharp upgrade to inflation, as it nears its first policy tightening in more than a decade.
- Cecile Lefort
- Opinion
- Inflation
Low expectations set the stage for further inflation surprises
Inflation rates, which many believe have peaked, will continue to shoot past central bank predictions.
- The Lex Column
ASX to start down 1.3pc before an RBA-packed week
Investors are bracing for an unsteady start on Monday with shares expected to open sharply lower ahead of a possible cash rate increase on Tuesday.
- Updated
- Cecile Lefort
