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Inflation

Yesterday

Finance secretary Jenny Wilkinson and Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy.

Please explain: Treasury and Finance in hot seat over $7.4b black hole

The heads of Treasury and Finance are being urged to explain why no extra money was set aside to pay for public servant wage increases over the next three years.

  • Updated
  • Michael Read
Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock will need to factor in higher US inflation.

A February interest rate cut is a goer if RBA changes one thing

Should the Reserve Bank downwardly revise its 4.5 per cent estimate of full employment, the first reduction will happen in just a few weeks.

  • Stephen Miller
Magellan’s Alan Pullen started covering financials and now runs two portfolios, including a hand in the firm’s flagship $12 billion fund. He’s seen a lot at Magellan, but always kept his belief in owning stocks.

How Magellan plans to make money, without two super-hot stocks

Hamish Douglass is gone – along with plenty of clients – but the global equities team marches on with the same search for quality compounders.

  • Anthony Macdonald

This Month

Markets are loving Trump 2.0 – for now. Australian business should sense opportunity.

Bumpy Trump era can be boom years for Australia, investors

Australian boardrooms can’t know what his second presidency holds, but they need to be ready to seize opportunities. Change is coming.

  • Anthony Macdonald

Who made Zuckerberg’s $1.4m watch? Take our quiz

Have you been paying attention this week? Test your knowledge across politics, business and world news.

  • Daniel Arbon
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FIFO mining camp operator bleeds cash as losses mount

French company Sodexo’s expansion into Australian FIFO camps has racked up nearly $177 million in cumulative losses over the past nine years.

  • Peter Ker
Shane Bennett, CEO of Melbourne builder Arden Homes, on a site in south-eastern Melbourne’s Rowville on Wednesday.

Softer inflation, cheaper land offer new home buyers a boost

Builders say cost growth has stabilised. Costs aren’t yet falling, but there are signs of relief in land discounts and even possible rate cuts.

  • Michael Bleby
Labor has hired thousands of extra public servants to cut back on outsourcing, which Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says has saved $4 billion.

$12b blowout in public servant wages since election

Labor is on track to spend at least $12 billion more on public servant wages than it forecast in its first budget, but says it has clawed back $4 billion by cutting down on outsourcing.

  • Michael Read
RBA governor Michele Bullock.

Soft inflation data brings February rate cut into sight

Economists and markets are increasingly confident the RBA will cut the cash rate in February after price pressures cooled further in November.

  • Updated
  • Michael Read

Inflation figures show ‘substantial and sustained progress’: Chalmers

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says headline inflation has now been in the RBA’s target band for four months; Victorian Liberal leader’s plan to scrap SEC would increase power prices, minister says. How the day unfolded.

  • Updated
  • Lucy Slade and Timothy Moore
Boards need to be careful they’re not prisoner to economists and interest rate calls.

Boards better off getting on with business than playing economists

The risk for investors is that boards use the interest rates confusion to shut up shop and wait until the supposed uncertainty clears.

  • Anthony Macdonald
Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers and Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher Labor has put aside almost no money for public sector wage rises despite already agreeing to increase the salaries of 185,000 public servants.

Labor’s $7.4b black hole from public service budget blunder

Labor has put aside almost no money for public sector wage rises despite already agreeing to increase the salaries of 185,000 public servants.

  • Michael Read
RBA governor Michele Bullock.

RBA should cut rates and not be fooled by trimmed mean inflation

The actual inflation rate Australian consumers and businesses feel is now within the designated target range of 2-3 per cent. The RBA should not ignore this.

  • Craig Emerson
Ray White’s Jessica Cao says the lower price of apartments on Sydney’s North Shore could attract buyers this year.

Wealthy inner-city suburbs wear the most pain in weak property market

Home values fell in December for the first time in nearly two years. But the dip is much bigger in more expensive areas, while affordable regions soar.

  • Campbell Kwan
Financial Review economist survey.

Reserve Bank rate cut hopes skirt federal election decider

Stubborn inflation, a tight jobs market and weak productivity thwarted interest rate relief in 2024. The Financial Review’s economist survey predicts that will change in May.

  • Cecile Lefort
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December 2024

Households who haven’t switched electricity plans in more than a year are paying $238 more annually than customers on newer offers, according to the ACCC.

More than 80pc of Aussies paying too much for their electricity

Households that have not changed power plans in more than two years are paying $317 more annually than customers on newer offers, according to the ACCC.

  • Michael Read
From pricier passports to cleaner cars, January 1 will bring a wave of changes that will hit your finances, your workplace, and even your kitchen benchtop.

New year, new rules: all the January 1 changes you need to know

From pricier passports to more fuel-efficient cars, the start of the year will bring changes that will hit your finances, your workplace and even your kitchen.

  • Michael Read
Gerry Harvey.

Gerry Harvey reveals his biggest problem with property development

The retail billionaire and sideline property investor says costs will keep rising, and that’s bad for projects – as well as for the people who work on them.

  • Updated
  • Michael Bleby and Primrose Riordan

The lucky country has blown the (20-year) boom

Australian governments have frittered away much of the windfall from the mining boom, which may now be fading. And there is no plan to pay for spending locked in.

  • John Kehoe
Inflation and unemployment data in January will be key to the RBA board’s decision on interest rates.

Soft wages, growth revive chances of first RBA rate cut in February

The Reserve Bank has signalled it could be ready to cut the cash rate early next year if upcoming data meets expectations, bolstering Labor’s re-election prospects.

  • Michael Read

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/inflation-1mph