Earnings season finally ended this week. And so did the bear market rally that had given investors hope that the worst had passed.

There’s a message in this for Australian investors. While the last month has shown the local economy and local companies are holding up well despite the fastest interest rate rises in a generation, this has largely been overshadowed by a nine-minute speech made last Friday by a central banker 13,000 kilometres away from Sydney that set the tone for global markets.