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Nick Hossack

9% rise in loan impairment charges not hurting CBA financially

CBA's full-year results reveal an incredibly strong underlying banking franchise, with cash net profit after tax (NPAT) rising 7% to nearly $11 billion, despite operating costs increasing 6% and loan impairment expenses rising 9%. The return on equity (ROE) of 14% demonstrates CBA's strength relative

How good is the RBA at hitting the inflation target?

Australia’s monetary policy framework is built around an inflation target. The RBA seeks to keep consumer price inflation between 2% and 3%, while also pursuing full employment. Its principal tool for influencing inflation is the cash rate: higher interest rates generally restrain spending and inflationary pressure, while lower rates

AI assesses the RBA decision today - good or bad for Pauline Hanson?

As expected today, the RBA's Monetary Policy Board left the official cash rate unchanged at 4.35%. Along with the decision, the RBA issued two documents explaining and supporting its assessment. The first provides the brief reasoning behind the decision. The second provides a more thorough assessment of

RBA cash rate - predicted to peak in March 2027

RBA Cash Rate — Market-Implied Pricing (7 Aug 2026) Meeting Date Direction Implied Rate Implied Move 11 Aug 2026 No change 4.35% 0.0bp 29 Sep 2026 No change 4.35% 0.0bp 3 Nov 2026 Increase 4.46% +10.7bp 8 Dec 2026 Increase 4.47% +1.0bp

Capital gains tax policy not hurting Westpac's housing investor loans this year

Westpac’s latest quarterly update - released today - shows mortgage demand softening, but the bank’s underlying financial performance — particularly its net interest margin — remains relatively resilient. Average monthly mortgage applications fell to around 29,000 in the June quarter, down 11% from the March quarter. Westpac expects applications to fall

US inflation update - 3.7% - way above Fed 2% target

The latest annualised CPI reading sits at 3.7% (June 2026), with prices running hotter since the US/Iran conflict began — averaging 4.9% annualised over that period, versus 4.2% across 2026 as a whole. The tables below report monthly data but annualise the results by multipling monthly data

US Gas Price Update - Trump vs Biden & midterms

The latest weekly US gas price sits at $4.08 (as of 3 August 2026), well above the $3.72 average recorded so far this year. Prices have run even hotter since the US/Iran conflict began in March, averaging $4.02 over that period. Under Trump's second

Signs of stabilisation in female participation in the workforce

One of the biggest changes in the Australian labour market over recent decades has been the increasing contribution of women to total hours worked, which incorporates both part-time and full-time work. In June 1986, Australian men as whole (noting, of course, a much smaller population than today) worked

Latest data - house building shortfall now 86,000 dwellings

In October 2022, the Commonwealth government's federal budget introduced the National Housing Accord, setting an initial target of one million new, well-located homes to be built over five years from mid-2024. On 16 August 2023, National Cabinet — comprising the Commonwealth, states and territories — agreed to lift

More evidence of the painful death of cheques

The latest Reserve Bank payments data provide further evidence that cheques are next to extinct as a payment instrument in Australia. In June 2026, Australians made just 0.6 million cheque payments. That compares with 1.414 billion card purchases — including 1.084 billion debit card transactions — and 173.6