Rates On Hold, For Now

The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced it is keep its official interest rate on hold, despite all signs showing the economy slowed during the June quarter.

Second quarter GDP figures are to be released this week and are expected to show the economy slowing to its weakest growth in almost 20 years.

Retail sales figures were down in July and pointed to the previous rate cuts doing little stimulate consumer spending.

While there was an expected rise, results show retail sales fell 0.1% in July, with discretionary sales down a particularly poor 0.3%.

the wider market is still expecting a full 25 basis point cut by November, with a second cut by April 2020.