Yesterday
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Reserve Bank should not bow to political pressure for February rate cut
Giving in to the pile-on by Labor-aligned commentators calling for cuts would be a bad look and would damage the central bank’s credibility.
- Richard Holden
This Month
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
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
ANZ joins forecasters betting on February RBA rate cut
It and Commonwealth Bank agree that mortgage holders may finally get some relief next month, but they are the only two majors predicting that.
- Joshua Peach and Cecile Lefort
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
Cost-of-living crunch leaves shoppers buying ‘an item not an outfit’
Retailers are banking on interest rate cuts and election promises to boost consumer spending, but experts warn the benefits may take time to filter through.
- Michelle Bowes
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
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
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
- Opinion
- Inflation
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
Super admits its size is a risk but says ‘what is the alternative?’
The managers of Australia’s $4.1 trillion retirement savings pool say they are best placed to invest in banks and private lending despite warnings from the RBA and IMF.
- Hannah Wootton
Top super investors dash pre-election rate cut hopes
But they say investors should be optimistic about inflation easing despite later cuts and risks associated with Donald Trump taking the White House.
- Hannah Wootton
ASX to rise, Australian dollar under pressure
A lower Australian dollar may push up petrol prices and heap more pressure on inflation, leading the Reserve Bank to potentially delay 2025 interest rate cuts.
- Updated
- Joanne Tran
- Opinion
- Interest rates
The key questions for investing in 2025
The last time the US equity market realised two back-to-back years of returns in excess of 20 per cent, it promptly plunged 19 per cent.
- Christopher Joye
The top six business trends for 2025
Here are six themes we expect to make news in 2025, from professional services to crypto and artificial intelligence across offices, boardrooms and suburbs.
- John Davidson, James Eyers, Edmund Tadros, Sally Patten, Euan Black and Nick Lenaghan
CBA tightens grip on mortgage crown while Westpac relents
‘Far more competitive’ CBA extends dominance of home lending market, adding almost $16 billion to its loan book in just five months.
- Lucas Baird
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
Why the falling $A could delay RBA rate cuts
The Aussie dollar hit a fresh two-year low, prompting strategists to raise the alarm that it will hold up inflation and may delay the first RBA rate cut of 2025.
- Updated
- Cecile Lefort
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Big business is sweating on a quick rate cut call
Even one would provide a boost for beaten up consumers – banks will have to pass it straight to customers no questions asked given the political environment.
- Anthony Macdonald
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
December 2024
ASX to forge ahead in rocky 2025 as bull market limps on
While strategists expect the sharemarket to rally in the new year ahead of the Reserve Bank’s first interest rate cut, they also predict a volatile 12 months.
- Updated
- Joanne Tran
- Opinion
- Currencies
The greenback was the trade of the year, the next one is up to Musk
Getting diversification across currencies was one of the best trades of 2024. But the year ahead is complicated by the advent of the new Trump regime in 2025.
- Christopher Joye