April mortgage market analysis

Some banks are failing in the mortgage wars, some are just holding on, while one is going toe-to-toe with the upstart leader, Macquarie

Today's changes to interest rates

Here are the changes the main banks have made to retail interest rates on Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Breakfast briefing: Iran extracts Persian Gulf tolls

US inflation expectations ease but SMEs turn glum; Japan improves; China excavator sales roar but car sales reverse; Iran tolling Hormuz transits; UST 10yr at 4.55%; gold and oil little-changed; AU$1 = 70.5 USc

Adoption of EVs a bright spot in a tepid new passenger car market

The new car market fell -1.2% in May from a year ago, bolstered by strong demand for EVs within that decline. ICE is out

Q1 GDP First Impressions: Data centres to the rescue as cost pressures moderate

Other than for data centers, investment and economic activity were weak in Q1-2026, with the pick‑up in household consumption offset by a fall in public demand

Fair Work Commission OKs a 4.75% hike to the National Minimum Wage

The minimum wage to rise to over $1000 per week on July 1, after the Fair Work Commission agrees the biggest rise since 20203

Bolting ahead

The main banks' muscle-up to the Macquarie challenge starts to show results for most of them. The rise of Bank Australia moves it out of the shadows too

'Grossly negligent' Westpac cops $26 mln penalty

After paying $1.7 mln in remediation to customers who did not get proper responses for their financial hardship claims, judge adds $26 mln civil penalty for the failures

What fiscal can learn from monetary

Westpac's Luci Ellis explores how policy makers can or should deal with bracket creep. Are periodic 'tax cuts' the right way? Or should tax rates be indexed?

The jobless rate rises, unexpectedly

The 2026 job market is tougher on women than men. There were fewer jobs for women in April, slightly more for men

The world economy after the Trump-Xi summit

Shang-Jin Wei explains how last week's meeting between the Chinese and US presidents could improve the global outlook

The world after the Iran war

Shlomo Ben-Ami envisions a less stable, more fragmented future, with China benefiting from declining faith in the US

2026–27 Australian Federal Budget

The 2026-27 Federal Budget delivers a fiscal impulse that is still slightly expansionary, and some significant tax changes and productivity reforms

Tackling high inflation with a third straight rate hike

For a third consecutive time, the Australian central bank has added another 25 bps cash rate target hike to 4.35%, reversing all of of its cuts since February 2025

Up, up and away

Term deposit rates have raced past the 5 percent benchmark and even the largest bank is now offering north of that. Check our rate tables frequently to stay up with this fluid situation

CPI inflation rose 4.6% in the year to March 2026

Inflation jumps +4.6% in March, driven by petrol (8.9%), housing (6.5%), and food (3.1%)

Job security as big a factor as rising interest rates for borrowers 'at risk'

Risk of mortgage stress up 1.9% points in March after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for second straight month: Roy Morgan