A Monash University economics expert is available to discuss the Reserve Bank’s decision to hold interest rates again and the global market sell-off which saw hundreds of billions of dollars wiped off Wall Street overnight and what this means for Australia.
Dr Isaac Gross, Lecturer Department of Economics, Monash Business School
Contact: + 61 490 819 643 or isaac.gross@monash.edu
Read more of Dr Gross’ commentary here: Monash Lens
The following can be attributed to Dr Gross:
“The RBA held interest rates steady today because of the encouraging downwards trend in inflation. Last week the ABS reported that underlying inflation grew by 0.8% in the second quarter which indicates that inflation is getting closer to the RBA’s target band of 2-3%. This moderation in inflation opens up the possibility for interest rate cuts sooner than anticipated, potentially before the year is out.
“The global sell off in financial markets was triggered by a combination of softer data from the US labour market and higher interest rates in Japan.
“We should expect to see smaller falls in the Australian stock market as investor sentiment turns negative. However, the implications for the Australian economy, including the unemployment rate and interest rates, should be small. Stock markets can be very volatile and sharp falls happen from time to time, but these falls generally don’t affect the real economy.”
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