Week in review
- RBA hikes cash rate by 25bps to 4.35%
- China back in deflation as CPI inflation falls 0.2% y/y
- Eurozone retail sales fall 2.9% y/y in September
Week ahead
- Australia business and consumer confidence
- Australia unemployment rate
- Australia wage cost index
Thought of the week
More U.S. data out last week suggests that the risk of imminent recession is falling. The Senior Loan Officers Opinion Survey showed a marginal shift down in the tightness in lending standards and a small pick up in demand compared to the prior quarter. This tightness in lending indicates that the Fed’s rate hikes are having an impact and banks are becoming more discerning on the quality of borrowers and their ability to repay loans. But when compared to Europe the majority of lending in the U.S. still happens though public debt markets rather than bank lending channels. This suggests that the Fed would not want to see yields on government bonds fall too far and financial conditions start to ease just when its policy tightening was starting to have an impact. The bad news is good news narrative that has seen equities rally and yields fall in the past week could turn quickly if the bad news is not bad enough for the Fed to be done with hiking.
U.S. lending conditions remain tight and demand for loan weak
Net % of respondents, Senior Loan Officers Opinion Survey