Empower Blog Australia

RBA Cash Rate – February 2020

On this first Tuesday of February as part of the new 2020s, the new decade, the RBA had a tough decision to make today. They had some really positive economic data flowing through from the end of 2019 that consisted of a really good unemployment story. It also said that retail spending had at a bounce in November, so that was positive. Ultimatel...

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RBA Cash Rate – December 2019

Today Governor Lowe and the reserve board met for the final time in 2019 and they kept the cash rate on hold at 0.75%. Now, in 2019 we saw three rate cuts. And for all of those people who love the data, what's interesting about that is between August 2016 and May 2019 — 34 months — the cash rate was on a hold at 1.5%. So they've definitely tri...

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RBA Cash Rate – November 2019

On this Melbourne Cup Tuesday in November, the Reserve Board met and they've kept the cash rate on hold at 0.75% — and that's on the back of stable unemployment. So we haven't seen unemployment deteriorate — in fact, it improved — but more about that later. And we’ve also had some commentary coming out of the Reserve Bank, in regards to ...

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RBA Rate Decision – May 2018

Note: To download the Money SMARTS Checklist, go to www.empowerwealth.com.au/money-smarts or click here. Today Governor Lowe and the Board met and they kept the cash rate on hold for a 21st consecutive month. So we haven’t seen a change to the cash rate since August 2016. So let’s take a look at what’s happening in the positive side of ...

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RBA Rate Decision – April 2018

Today, Governor Lowe and the Reserve Board met for April and they kept the ash rate on hold at 1.5%. No surprises there as both the Reserve Governor and the Board are flagging to industry and business that they're in no rush to move the rates higher anytime soon.   The reason for that is they still want to see stronger economic growth...

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RBA Rate Decision – March 2018

At the March 2018 RBA board meeting, we saw the cash rate remain on hold at 1.5%. No surprises there — we know that the rate has been widely tipped to stay on hold from most economists around the country. This is an interesting point because what Governor Lowe made mention in February was that he doesn't see any strength in moving the cash rat...

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RBA Rate Decision – February 2018

Today Governor Lowe and the Board met for the very first time in 2018, and they kept the cash rate on hold at 1.5%. Again, no surprises there. The reason for that is because inflation numbers came out last week and the overall year-to-date number for 2017 was only 1.9%. We all know that they want to keep the inflation bandwidth between 2% ­– ...

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RBA Rate Decision – December 2017

At the December board meeting today, the Governor and the Board has kept the cash rate on hold at 1.5%. This is the sixteenth consecutive month we've seen the cash rate remain on hold at 1.5%. Now, the big news has been around the announcement of a Royal Commission into the banking sector to try and bring a bit more transparency into what's happ...

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RBA Rate Decision – November 2017

On the first Tuesday of the month where the nation stops for a horse race called the Melbourne Cup, the RBA have met and they've kept the cash rate on hold at 1.5%. Now, the cash rate hasn't moved since August 2016, so obviously the RBA are feeling quite comfortable where they have the cash rate. The reason for this is the lenders and the regul...

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RBA Rate Decision – October 2017

Same old, same old from the RBA today, the cash rate remains on hold at 1.5%. So no real movement.   In terms of economic news, let's look globally first, and the US is probably the main story here. We did see the Trump administration release a Tax Reform package. Now, this tax reform package is all about that one flat tax rate of 20%. T...

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RBA Rate Decision – September 2017

Today, Governor Lowe and the Reserve Board met and, as widely anticipated — and it's going to be a bit of a broken record — the cash rate remains on hold at 1.5%. So with a cash rate on hold, and basically all the levers doing their thing, I wanted to focus in on jobs —the unemployment story of the Nation — because this is going to be th...

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RBA Rate Decision – August 2017

Today Governor Lowe and the Reserve Board met and—no surprises here — cash rate remains on hold at 1.5%. We did see some interesting commentary come out of the RBA over the July period, and some of that commentary was around what they thought was an ideal cash rate — around 3.25%. Now, with the current cash rate sitting at 1.5%, the market...

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RBA Rate Decision – July 2017

FACT SHEET: Changes on Government Fees and First Home Initiatives (Effective since 1 July 2017) [gravityform id="23" title="false" description="false"]   Today the Reserved Governor and the Board met and they've kept the cash rate on hold at 1.5% for the start of the new financial year. Let's have a look at some of the economic data tha...

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