by Stephen Roberts | 21 Oct, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The suspension of the US debt ceiling deadline until mid-January allows financial markets to focus on other influences on asset prices for a few months. One of the more important of those influences is that notwithstanding the lumps and bumps in the US economic... by Stephen Roberts | 9 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The Reserve Bank (RBA) left the cash rate at 2.50% at its board meeting last week, a decision that was very widely expected. The statement accompanying the decision was brief, but was notable for removing a key sentence from statements after earlier policy meetings... by Stephen Roberts | 8 Jul, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The RBA board left the cash rate unchanged at 2.75% for a second consecutive meeting in July and although the accompanying statement finished with the customary easing bias comment, signs of economic improvement internationally and locally seem to imply little reason... by Stephen Roberts | 13 May, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The surprise policy move by the RBA last week, cutting the cash rate by 25bp to a record low 2.75% is unusual in that it represents a further easing of an already very accommodating policy setting at a time when there is ample evidence that growth in household... by Stephen Roberts | 29 Apr, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
Inflation remains benign according to the Q1 CPI which at 0.4% q-o-q, 2.5% y-o-y came in lower than the market and probably the RBA too were expecting. Importantly, the main two underlying inflation readings were low as well with the trimmed mean up 0.3% q-o-q, 2.2%...