Reserve Bank of Australia News

A pledge by Australia's government to restore a budget surplus won't necessarily translate into more rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia, or RBA, said a senior executive at Fitch Ratings.

The Australian market looks set to open lower following falls on Wall Street with traders again looking to events across the Atlantic ahead of a long holiday weekend.

Union leader Paul Howes wants the federal government to pull banks into line on interest rates by forcing them to match the central bank's rate moves.

QANTAS has hit out at claims it rakes in millions from charging passengers to use their credit or debit cards to book flights.

Nations keep watch on the eurozone crisis, wary that the region's further deterioration could impact on their economies but for an The euro will likely fall against the U.S. dollar, to $1.10 by the end of 2012, from its current level of $1.27. Professor Warwick McKibbin of the Australian National University told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday ... (more)

Australian consumer confidence hovered near the weakest level this year and wage growth slowed, underpinning bets the central bank will cut interest rates next month to the lowest level in more than two years.

Slower growth, inflation and bank rate hikes prompted the RBA to cut official rates at its May board meeting.

Glenn Stevens, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, slashed the overnight cash rate target by half a percentage point to a two-year low of 3.75 percent.

Analysts forecast that the Reserve Bank of Australia will keep key lending rate on hold until the end of 2011 due to weak global economic recovery.

In economic news on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to release the minutes of its May 1 board meeting, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics is expected to release new motor vehicle sales figures for April.

A man looks at protestors of the "Occupy Sydney" movement as they march in front of the Reserve Bank of Australia in central Sydney November 5, 2011.

THE jobless rate has unexpectedly dropped to 4.9 per cent, casting doubt on whether the Reserve Bank of Australia will be quick to cut the official interest rate again.

Bill Evans, chief economist at Westpac Banking Corp., talks about the outlook for Australia's annual budget, economy and Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said that Europe is the "epicenter" of risks to the global economy.

The latest building activity data confirmed the warning issued last week by the Australian central bank - that the local housing sector will not be geared to recovery mode, at least in the near term.

Encouraging retail sales and building approvals data could mean there is less of a chance of another interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia soon.

The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its inflation and GDP forecasts in its latest statement on monetary policy.

Ahead of the budget surplus that Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she will adhere to in the May 8 budget presentation, the Reserve Bank of Australia painted a subdued pace of the domestic economy for much of 2012 on its quarterly policy advisory.

The Australian market looks set to open lower following falls on Wall Street overnight with investors unsettled by mixed economic data.

Tags: average hourly earnings , Consumer Price Index , Currency trading , European central bank , Forex , inflation , inventories data , Jobless claims , Mortgage approvals , PMI , purchasing managers index , Reserve Bank of Australia , retail sales , unemployment rate , US Department of Energy , US Federal Reserve Major economic events around the ... (more)