The odds of a hike in interest rates in coming months have increased after the January consumer price index showed headline inflation stuck at 3.8 per cent, and underlying inflation rising. Economists were expecting headline CPI to slip to 3.7 per cent. Instead, it held firm at 3.8 per cent, according to the ABS. The trimmed mean — that's the Reserve Bank's preferred measure of underlying inflation — went from 3.3 per cent in December to 3.4 per cent in January, a 16-month high. The biggest driver was housing — up 6.8 per cent over the year, including rent and new builds.
The S&P/ASX 200 hit an all-time intraday record yesterday of 9,130.3 points. It snapped a three-day losing streak and finished up 1.2 per cent at a new all-time closing high of 9128.3 points.
Woolworths’ share price hit a 17 month high, after jumping 12 per cent yesterday on the back of a strong profit result. It was the biggest one-day rise for Woolies in 30 years.
WiseTech Global’s share price jumped 11 per cent after founder Richard White said the software tracking company will cut 2,000 jobs and embrace artificial intelligence to develop software and serve customers.
Domino's Pizza had a rough day. Its share price fell 11 per cent — the biggest single-day drop since August last year. Domino's turned a profit, but that’s because it reduced discounting and as a result customers left in droves.
Donald Trump’s State of the Union address yesterday, Australian time, was the longest on record at 107 minutes, included a number of hecklers and ejections from the Chamber, was very pointed on issues from illegal aliens to Supreme Court judges, and said the US was in the middle of a golden age.
Fear-o-meter
Even the market economists who don’t think inflation is a major issue for the economy are now starting to forecast a rate hike, probably in May. The quarterly CPI data from the Bureau of Statistics is in late April.
Maybe the Reserve Bank will wait until it sees the figures before moving. But maybe not. A rate rise is possible in April.
The government knows it. Federal treasurer Jim Chalmers has reportedly asked his department to start finding savings — using the phrase "economics before politics" — ahead of the May budget.
Whether that's genuine fiscal discipline or pre-election positioning is unclear. But it sounds like he understands the need to wind back spending, otherwise risk higher interest rates which the electorate dislikes.
Financial markets also know a rate hike is likely. The Australian dollar jumped yesterday, and the bond market was sold off, pushing yields higher. That’s the market saying rates will probably go up.
Fear & Greed Q+A today
On the biotech company's half-year results, and how she keeps the faith in the company's work, developing drugs to treat cancer, when it can take years to see results:
"I’ve been in the industry of cancer drug development... for almost 30 years. It has been a lifelong dream to be able to have a drug that actually leads to that C word, which is a positive word of cure. And I’m very happy and proud that I’ve been a part of that for most of my adult life now.
You have to know how a drug works and then you have to really coddle it and nurture it so that the drug becomes beneficial to patients one day when it’s marketed.
The thing you know about cancer is that every time you fail off of a therapy, it just gets harder and harder. And the tumour cancer just gets, unfortunately, really clever in finding an escape route.
The fact that our patients have third line, have failed off of myriads of different therapies — some patients have six lines of therapy — and we’re seeing a response rate, complete clearance of their cancer, some with partial response, which means more than 50 per cent of their cancer are gone — we know that this is working in a certain population, especially in late stage.
So we’re at that really great spot where we’re at phase 1B. We’ve progressed phase one, and we’ve already gone to the FDA to get our strategy approved or check-marked by the FDA for a registrational study, which is the next phase.
Affordability for entry-level properties has deteriorated even further over the last 12 months, despite increased borrowing power from interest rate cuts and government incentives. According to Domain's 2026 First Home Buyer Report, it's getting tougher in every capital city.
Area
Entry price
Annual change
Sydney
$1,150,000
15.0% ($150,000)
Melbourne
$720,000
6.7% ($45,000)
Brisbane
$856,000
20.6% ($146,000)
Adelaide
$720,000
20.0% ($120,000)
Perth
$780,000
22.1% ($141,000)
Hobart
$623,894
5.7% ($33,894)
Darwin
$565,000
21.5% ($100,000)
Canberra
$780,000
4.0% ($30,000)
Australia
$685,000
12.3% ($75,000)
Source: Domain
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