This Month
Fed’s Logan says still too early to think about rate cuts
Lorie Logan, the president of the Dallas Fed, flagged uncertainties over how restrictive monetary policy is.
- Catarina Saraiva
- Analysis
- Renting
Why Australia’s long-suffering renters are not alone
Rents are soaring not only in Australia but also in the US, UK and Canada, preventing inflation from declining closer to central banks’ targeted levels.
- Swati Pandey, Irina Anghel and Enda Curran
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Why data-driven Bullock has her eye on the budget
RBA governor Michele Bullock says it’s too early to declare victory over inflation as she avoids the markets’ frenzied guessing game on interest rates.
- Jennifer Hewett
Yellen counsels caution on currency intervention after surge in yen
The US treasury secretary said ‘we would expect these interventions to be rare and consultation to take place’.
- Christopher Condon
OECD warns sticky inflation means rates higher for longer
The warning came as CEOs deliver upbeat assessment of the economy and financial markets push out expectations for rate cuts to May or June 2025, potentially after the next federal election.
- Ronald Mizen, James Eyers, Lucas Baird, Simon Evans, Tess Bennett and Carrie LaFrenz
Powell signals rates will stay higher for longer
The US Federal Reserve has kept rates unchanged but chairman Jerome Powell said inflation was still too high despite “sufficiently restrictive” policy.
- Updated
- Matthew Cranston
NAB’s ‘astonishing’ number; Woolies’ warning; Fed’s ‘confidence’ trick
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
Markets cheer after Fed chief rules out rate increases
Traders have ramped up US rate cut bets this year after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold, but the prospect of higher rates in Australia this year is still on the cards.
- Cecile Lefort
- Opinion
- Federal Reserve
The US presidential election is casting a long shadow over the Fed
Lingering inflation has caused hopes for US interest rate cuts to wither. That means the Federal Reserve risks becoming dragged into a divisive election.
- Karen Maley
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Investors aren’t falling for Powell’s ‘confidence’ trick
The Fed chairman has made it clear the bar for a rate rise is very high. But while he hasn’t lost faith in disinflation, rate cuts are moving further away, too.
- James Thomson
ASX drops 1pc; $200m home goes on sale; What Star CEO sacking reveals
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
- Opinion
- Interest rates
The Fed won’t move on rates, but investors will still hang on Jerome Powell’s every word
If the Fed concludes overnight that US inflation is stuck at around 3 per cent, it’s unlikely to cut rates at all this year and that will weigh on asset prices, including shares.
- Karen Maley
April
ASX to bounce as Powell prepares to walk rates ‘tightrope’
The US Federal Reserve will take centre stage again this week, when some forecasters are expecting its chairman to address an increasingly poor inflation outlook.
- Joshua Peach
Investors bet global central banks forced to delay rate cuts
Market expectations for loosening interest rates in Europe and the UK have been pushed back, as the US grapples with a hot economy.
- Updated
- Sam Fleming, Tommy Stubbington and Martin Arnold
Trump to set interest rates himself under secret presidential plan
Donald Trump’s aides plan to roll back the independence of the US Federal Reserve if he returns to the Oval Office.
- Tim Wallace
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
Why inflation is proving sticky on both sides of the Atlantic
What matters is not what is happening right now, but what will happen in the months or even years ahead, as past policy works through the system.
- Updated
- Martin Wolf
‘Stunning’ equity rallies lift super fund returns
Superannuation funds are expected to end the financial year “a lot better than expected”, new data shows, with returns already nearly surpassing last year’s results.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Jobs numbers pose a sticky conundrum
The Albanese government can only publicly welcome the strength of the jobs market, but a receding horizon for rate cuts is always difficult for political leaders eyeing their election prospects.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Fundies have gone ‘full bull’. Is it time to sell?
Bank of America’s latest global fund manager survey says investors are almost all-in on risk. That might be a worry.
- Updated
- James Thomson
UK inflation stronger than expected on higher fuel prices
While the latest reading was the lowest since September 2021, the Bank of England and private-sector economists had expected an even lower one.
- Irina Anghel