Today
Stop telling us what to do with interest rates: RBA deputy
Commentators telling the RBA to cut or raise rates are “false prophets” who could cause damage with their poor predictions, deputy governor Andrew Hauser warns.
- 1 hr ago
- Michael Read
Yesterday
‘Heartbreaking’: Melbourne stores bite the dust as workers stay home
Small-business owner Chelsea McIntosh has been forced to close down six out of seven gift shops she ran in Melbourne’s CBD as the retail sector has been rattled.
- Gus McCubbing
- Opinion
- Opinion
Reserve Bank has finally taken the inflation crisis seriously
The consumer price index reading gave the RBA an out. Instead, governor Michele Bullock’s tough talk dumped cold water on a rate cut any time soon.
- Steven Hamilton
- Opinion
- Sharemarket
Time to panic or the correction we had to have?
Investors’ hope for a Goldilocks scenario all came unstuck last week. But rather than succumb to hysteria, it’s better to recalibrate risk appetite.
- Stephen Miller
This Month
RBA to cut rates three times next year
Economists expect the Reserve Bank of Australia will deliver its first post-pandemic interest rate cut in February 2025.
- Michael Read
- Analysis
- Michele Bullock
‘Hottest ticket since Cold Chisel’: Bullock returns home to Armidale
The RBA governor’s formative years helped make the country’s most high-profile economist a ‘tough’ leader.
- John Kehoe
Rising costs hit Mirvac margins, new homes
Property developer Mirvac blamed the steep rise in labour and material costs for halving its profit margins on some residential projects, triggering a 13 per cent fall in operating earnings this year.
- Michael Read and Nick Lenaghan
Big discounting and store closures hit Myer’s bottom line
The department store has warned it will record a fall in sales when it publishes its financial results next month, as lower customer spending takes its toll.
- Carrie LaFrenz
Labor working ‘arm-in-arm’ with RBA on inflation, Albanese insists
The prime minister has pushed back on claims that federal government spending is making it harder for the Reserve Bank to tame inflation.
- Tom McIlroy
- Analysis
- Review
Is Japan ready for a ‘world with interest?’
An entire generation has grown up knowing nothing but yields near zero and mortgage rates that seemed to get cheaper by the year.
- Gearoid Reidy
- Updated
- Inflation
Chalmers’ rebates not helping inflation, RBA warns
Federal and state government energy bill subsidies will not help get inflation under control, and big-spending public sector budgets are making it worse, the bank says.
- Updated
- Michael Read
Why the market doesn’t believe the RBA on rates
Despite the surprisingly strong hawkish rhetoric from the Reserve Bank this week, bond traders (and some economists) aren’t buying it.
- Updated
- Cecile Lefort and Sarah Jones
Share of $1m suburbs blows out in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane
The share of suburbs across Australia with a median house price of more than $1million is poised to surge in the next six months.
- Nila Sweeney
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
The RBA is not failing in its mission to keep inflation under control
Readers’ letters on the Reserve Bank and interest rates; bans on uranium mining; the future of a republic; smoke and mirrors in Victoria; challenges for private health companies; and marvellous maggots.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
RBA holds prudent course on rates and inflation
Australia’s central bank is rightly refusing to take the soft option that would risk forcing it to confront less palatable choices later. The political debate needs to face up to this.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- RBA
RBA warns rate cuts are a no-go this year
Why interest rates won’t come down this year after all. They might even go up.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
RBA is in no place to comfort fearful investors
The reality of Australia’s inflation problem means Michele Bullock has little room to encourage investors’ flagging animal spirits.
- Updated
- James Thomson
Traders don’t believe the RBA’s warning on rates
Bond markets are still wagering that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates this year even as the central bank said it considered a rise on Tuesday.
- Cecile Lefort
- Opinion
- Opinion
Bullock talks tough, but board can’t stomach raising rates
The RBA has squibbed again this month. With long-run credibility on the line, it needs to focus on getting inflation inside the target band.
- Richard Holden
What a cash rate hold means for REITs
Office landlords face further asset write-downs this earnings season, but there may be little pain after that as interest rates stabilise, says Barrenjoey.
- Campbell Kwan
