The ABS released the latest quarterly inflation data for Australia on Wednesday (pertaining to the September quarter) and our headline inflation rate has climbed to 3.2% (while core, or TMI, sits at 3%) – something that the market didn’t particularly love.
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Inflation being back at 3.2% now puts it outside the RBA’s much-publicised target band of 2-3%. Thus the retreat into what could be perhaps partially bearish thinking. That’s also because this now basically guarantees we won’t get any rate cuts next month and so not until 2026.
This mightn’t be too surprising looking at the central bank’s behaviour over the last 2 years, and, considering that we’ve already had 3 cuts this year while there’s no overwhelming evidence the job market is falling apart (despite a slight decrease in strength.)
So, for now, probably no early Christmas from the RBA unless there’s something majorly falling apart right now neither the market or Australia’s government economists have yet spotted.
It was, at least, a good day for uranium companies, seemingly buoyed by a better mood-in-the-room, particularly evident for Boss Energy shares after its troubles earlier this year once CEO Duncan Craib more or less vanished out the door days before a production guidance downgrade.
Still, the Trump-Asia talks broadly continue to boost valuations for the stock markets of our closest neighbours.
And so let’s turn then full attention to the ASX. Materials was in the lead in the final hour up just over a percent with a majority of sectors red; healthcare led laggards for a second day after CSL’s price plunge on Tuesday helped bring down the entire basket.
We’ll give the standard company overview a miss today. Have a great night and we’ll see you tomorrow.