Investors should get ready for a world of more volatile inflation, gyrating interest rates and greater economic uncertainty, according to two pivotal speeches this week.
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian wage growth held steady in the June quarter while the pace of annual pay awards unexpectedly slowed, raising hopes that inflationary pressures are weakening and building the case against further increases in interest rates. Coupled with the release of dovish minutes from the July policy meeting , investors doubled down on bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would keep rates steady for a third straight month in September with a 91% probability, compared with 85% before. The data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday showed the wage price index (WPI) rose 0.8% in the June quarter from the previous quarter, against forecasts of a 0.9% increase.
The Australian and New
Zealand dollars edged higher on Thursday as a well-flagged rise
in U.S. rates proved anticlimactic, though policy meetings in
Europe and Japan still posed risks. .
The Australian and New
Zealand dollars stalled on Wednesday as a surprisingly soft
reading on Chinese services activity took the steam out of an
overnight rally and left major chart barriers.