Economic News

The neutral rate cannot be observed directly, yet it sits at the centre of the Reserve Bank's judgement about whether a 4.60% cash rate is genuinely tight, and the September minutes raised the possibility that it has moved higher.

The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate in September while acknowledging that housing prices were falling faster than expected, a combination that looks odd at first glance but follows from what the central bank is actually trying to achieve.

Much of the public debate about rate rises focuses on households, but the Reserve Bank's September statement singled out a different source of momentum: strong growth in business investment and borrowing.

Tucked into the minutes of the September meeting, a four-word phrase sums up the Reserve Bank's patience problem: inflation must come back to target, and it must not take too long doing so.

Two scheduled data releases in the last week of October, September CPI and the RBA's Financial Aggregates, land just days before the Monetary Policy Board's next cash rate decision on 3 November.

InternationalCrude Oilmarkets remained in focus during the trading session on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, as energy prices reflected ongoing developments in global petroleum trading.

International diesel markets recorded elevated pricing during theTrading sessionon Tuesday, 13 October 2026, as supply uncertainty and developments across global energy markets influenced trading conditions.