US job openings rise, supporting stocks ahead of the Fed’s rate decision tomorrow. And the Reserve Bank of Australia holds a little less hawkishly than expected, but rate cuts appear to be off the table from here.
In our Deep-Dive interview, ANZ’s Chief Economist for Greater China Raymond Yeung looks at the outlook for prices and policy responses in China over 2026.
5 things to know in 5 minutes:
US stocks were supported by a slightly larger-than-expected rise in US job openings to a five month high in October. The data comes ahead of the Fed’s last rate decision of the year tomorrow. ANZ Economist Bansi Madhavani says while a 25 basis point cut is widely expected, a key thing to watch will be the Fed’s latest economic projections.
The Reserve Bank of Australia left the cash rate on hold at 3.6% as expected. ANZ Head of Australian Economics Adam Boyton says the post-meeting statement was an evolution in a more hawkish direction, but not overtly hawkish.
ANZ Research continues to expect rates on hold through 2026 as inflation moderates. Adam says the RBA did not place much weight on October’s monthly CPI bounce. Subdued price indicators in NAB’s business survey for November out yesterday could temper any hike talk.
The headline conditions and confidence readings in the business survey both fell slightly. ANZ Senior Economist Adelaide Timbrell says that wasn’t necessarily bad news.
Australian consumers’ inflation expectations continued to climb last week, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Australia Consumer Confidence survey. This came as weakness across all sub-indices led the headline measure to fall 2 points to 83.5, says ANZ Economist Sophia Angala.
Cheers,
Bernard.
Catch you tomorrow with the latest inflation data out of China for November.
