Wespac released their monthly survey of consumer sentiment earlier
Data is here (in brief -3% m/m and +7.4% y/y)
Chief economist Bill Evans' follow up comments on what he expects from the Reserve Bank of Australia in August (next meeting August 2)
- We expect that it will decide to further reduce the overnight cash rate to 1.5%
(Evans cites the central bank's concern about low inflation, and adds that
- "We do not believe that it would have made such significant changes to its assessment of the inflation outlook without being prepared to cut rates further ... we are mindful that despite cutting rates the Board did not lower its growth forecasts indicating that the motivation behind the May decision was entirely around the need to credibly achieve the inflation target over the forecast period"
And:
- With the AUD lifting above USD0.76 and the inflation target at risk it seems a sensible policy option to cut rates further.
