Mortgage Rates Are On Their Way Up; Thanks Jim!

More data today, and more signs that rate hikes are coming as Australian unemployment unexpectedly fell in December as the economy added more jobs than anticipated, prompting traders to boost bets that the Reserve Bank will be forced to raise interest rates as early as next month. And just as we get another dose of budget incompetence from the Treasury too, which in turn is making inflation harder to tame. With the unemployment rate remaining lower than at almost any point over the past five decades, dropping to 4.1% from 4.3%, it beat economists’ estimate of 4.3%. This absolutely strengthens the case for the central bank to raise rates when it next meets in February. First we will examine the data in detail, and then discuss further the implications for monetary policy. Earlier this month, RBA Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser described inflation as “too high” and echoed Bullock’s remarks, saying Australians have probably seen the last cut of the easing cycle. At the same time, he signaled that the rate-setting board is taking a patient approach to controlling inflation. The RBA operates under a dual mandate that aims for inflation to be at the midpoint of its 2-3% target while trying to keep the economy at maximum sustainable employment. But something else we need to factor in is the strong, some would say excessive Government spending. And as Economist Chris Richardson pointed out on X. The cost forecasting in the budget is getting a lot worse. How bad is it? The budget update issued just ahead of Christmas added another $47.8bn to government spending. The quality of government cost forecasting is fading fast. So it is long past time for an overhaul of our budget rules, reporting and forecasting. They are all being badly abused. As Chris says in his article, Our silly budget reporting rules allow a completely cooked policymaking disaster to show up as large budgetary savings made by our very responsible Treasurer. The knock on effect is of course higher inflation, more taxes, lower economic growth, and yes, you’ve guessed it, higher interest rates. So you know that spin Jim is where much of the blame is sheeted. http://www.martinnorth.com/ Details of our one to one service are here: https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/dfa-one-to-one/ Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/ Find more at https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/ where you can subscribe to our research alerts Please consider supporting our work via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DigitalFinanceAnalytics The full detailed set of post code data is available as a subscription service. Or make a one-off contribution to help cover our costs via PayPal at: https://www.paypal.me/MartinDFA We also can receive bitcoins at: 13zBL1oRib9VJu8Uc9zUGNhxKDBBgUpDN1 Please share this post to help to spread the word about the state of things.... Caveat Emptor! Note: this is NOT financial or property advice!! 🚨BEWARE OF SCAMMERS🚨 As there are accounts impersonating Walk The World in the comments on YouTube, note that our comments will have a distinguishable verified symbol. And remember that we will never message you asking you to give us money or talk to us on other platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram