Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

If you have savings with a bank in Australia, it is highly likely you are being ripped off. After all, Australian Consumers depend on retail deposit products to conduct their everyday banking, to safely store over $1.4 trillion of their savings and, importantly, to earn a decent return on these funds. However, as I have … Continue reading "The Great Australian Savings Account Rip-Off!"

This is our regular weekly market update. This past week was a doozy in the markets as the Fed started to flip the switch on monetary policy, which took the markets by surprise. Yields plunged. Stock and bond prices soared. And this time, it’s more than the Magnificent Seven stocks leading the charge. The Russell … Continue reading "Are Future FED Cuts Now Being Peddled Back?"

On 7 December 2023, the Senate referred the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reserve Bank Reforms) Bill 2023 [Provisions] to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 21 March 2024. The critical issue is that the Treasurer is walking back Government’s power to intervene with RBA decisions if they do not agree. This power … Continue reading "How To Stop The Technocrats From Taking Over…"

While markets seem to be thinking about coordinated rate cuts next year, the truth is, economies are in very different positions, with New Zealand already looking stagflationary, and the ECB and the Bank of England not sharing the rate cut love exhibited by the FED. Norge Bank lifted this past week, and the RBA is … Continue reading "Central Bank Inflation Poker Fragments"

Is a great monetary pivot near as central bankers engineer a once-unthinkable soft landing in the world’s largest economy. It seems, finally, and for now, Wall Street traders and the Federal Reserve are on the SAME PAGE. Wednesday was quite a day, which took an unexpected turn when the FOMC, the quarterly “dot plot” or … Continue reading "Do We Have A FED Pivot Now Then?"

The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 3.9 per cent in November (seasonally adjusted), up from a revised 3.8 per cent in October, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS said: “With employment increasing by 61,000 people, and the number of unemployed people rising by 19,000, … Continue reading "The Employment Numberwang Continues…"

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) update released on Wednesday estimates the Australian economy is expected to expand by a low 1.75% in 2023–24 before regaining momentum in 2024-25, when improved real incomes are expected to support a recovery in household consumption. It also notes inflation – although moderating – is still too high. … Continue reading "The MYEFO Magic Pudding…"

You will recall that Australia’s October monthly CPI indicator from the Australian Bureau of Statistics came in below market expectations at 4.9%/yr (versus the consensus of 5.2%/yr). There were a number of factors which messed with the data, as I discussed in a previous show. According to CBA, other surveys also suggest that trimmed mean … Continue reading "Playing Inflation Chicken With Wonky Monthly Data"

The last mile of the journey in getting inflation back into its box, is the hardest and most intractable. So while US inflation is much lower than it was the latest release yesterday, ahead of the FED rate decision today shows it’s not declining quickly and remains above the Federal Reserve’s targets. In summary, core … Continue reading "Disappointing US Inflation Data Will Keep The Fed Hawkish…"

This is an edited version of my latest live discussion as I explore the latest from our surveys, with a focus on post code level analysis. Original live stream and chat here: https://youtube.com/live/f_3K6ehCqvg Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/