Reserve Bank of Australia meeting coming up on Tuesday September 7.
Ahead of that meeting is Q2 GDP data due Wednesday September 1 (at 0130 GMT).
Economic growth data for April to June is oh-so-stale data now, what with the renewed COVID-19 outbreak in NSW and Victoria and associated lockdowns likely to extend for the foreseeable future. (NSW (Sydney is the capital of NSW and Australia's largest city) has pretty much given up on trying to drive the count down, now looking to an expanded vaccination rate as a way to exit the mess. Victoria (Melbourne, Australia's 2nd largest city) is barely holding the case count steady (and would also be very happy with an accelerating vax rate)). However, what Q2 GDP data will be good for is giving an idea of how strong the economy was heading into the Q3 weakness.
A snippet of what to look for from the RBA next week via Westpac analysis:
- focus will be on the RBA's decision around its QE taper at next week's Board meeting. There is a strong market expectation that they will not reduce policy accommodation on schedule, although confirmation would likely still impact markets, dampening yields and the currency and also providing ongoing support for the outperformance of AU bonds on a cross market basis.
For more on market expectations of what the RBA is going do with its QE program, I posted this preview from CBA late last week:
RBA Gov Lowe:
