Breakfast briefing: Investors brace for AI debt reckoning

Global government bond yields fall and flatten; US PPI jumps more than expected as tariff missteps bite; China to cull excess airlines; Aussie jobs shrink; UST 10yr at 5.08%; gold firms slightly and oil rises; AU$1 = 69.1 USc

Rising sovereign yields raise the fiscal stakes

Higher borrowing costs are adding to fiscal pressures at a time of high debt, making credible consolidation more urgent, says the IMF

How worried should we be about the global economy?

Dambisa Moyo catalogues key risks, from high inflation and soaring debt to market concentration and political polarisation

Today's changes to interest rates

Here are the changes the main banks have made to retail interest rates on Thursday, October 15, 2026

When reality gets revised

Economic data are often revised. Sometimes the revisions change the story; sometimes they do not. Either way, Westpac's Luci Ellis says they argue for humility when using data in policy debates

A global economic recovery built on shaky foundations

Eswar Prasad and Thomas Riveros see promising growth trajectories in both developed and developing economies, despite inflationary pressures

Difficult decisions today? or higher prices tomorrow?

AI has made borrowing more expensive. Alex Dryden explains how bond markets are changing

Why is the global economy so resilient?

Nouriel Roubini offers an explanation for the relatively benign global economic outlook, despite obvious risks

National housing values down for sixth straight month in September

Affordability constraints, higher interest rates, elevated living costs, and weaker consumer sentiment have all reduced purchasing capacity and dampened buyer demand

RBA hikes cash rate target to 4.6%.

Australia leads the fight against inflation with a new high 4.6% policy interest rate, among the highest in the world at present

'Air pocket'

Westpac sees the run into year-end shaping as a particularly nervy one for housing markets. They have increased their peak-to trough price decline

Superannuation drives growth in household wealth

Household wealth now at $19.4 tln, driven by superannuation, but now held back by recently falling housing values

Westpac says the next hike will be soon now

Westpac says its expects the next RBA rate hike to be brought forward to September, as hawkish rhetoric outweighs the tactical risks

The population grows 1.4% in the year to March 2026

The population grows fastest in WA, grows the most in Victoria

Company failures push higher

A surge in construction company collapses has pushed month insolvencies to a new high

APRA takes action to address material liquidity breaches by ING Australia

ING Australia now has to hold additional capital and liquidity in response to material breaches of the bank’s minimum liquidity requirements

July mortgage stress up to an 18-year high

Almost one third of home loan borrowers are now in mortgage stress says Roy Morgan, almost back to GFC levels in 2008