Thursday 4th June 2020

Australia has entered a recession but, as Josh Frydenberg was quick to point out yesterday, the Q1 fall in GDP was miniscule compared to most of the rest of the world. Market focus, meanwhile, is what comes next. NAB’s Gavin Friend talks to Phil Dobbie about the continued optimism that is perpetuating the rally in equities, the sharp rise in bond yields today and a fall in gold. The Aussie dollar continues to gain on the back of a weakening US dollar. The pound, whilst up against the US dollar, is faring less well – if Brexit talks collapse this week that won’t help. Plus, the ECB meets today – do they really need to extend their bond purchase program? Gavin suggests it could do more harm than good.