The Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy meeting and Governor Lowe's statement are due at 0430 GMT on Tuesday 1 June 2021.

Previews posted earlier:

ING have an interesting take (bolding mine for emphasis)

  • A resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Melbourne has forced the city into its fourth lockdown since the start of the pandemic, raising new concerns about the path for recovery of the Australian economy. This may provide a reason for the Reserve Bank of Australia to stick to its dovish tone for longer as it announces monetary policy on Tuesday.
  • Since the latest policy meeting (4 May), the Bank has not received many data inputs, with the only key release having been the April jobs report, which showed a slowdown in total employment (although entirely due to part-time positions) but a reduction in the unemployment rate (to 5.5%) thanks to a smaller participation rate. Combined with the weak inflation numbers for 1Q, the RBA has, in theory, enough reasons to keep its policy message unchanged ahead of the pivotal July meeting when the Bank is expected to decide on whether to roll out yield curve control to the November 2024 bond.
  • At the same time, the Bank cannot ignore that the Australian terms of trade are still close to 10-year highs despite the recent correction in iron ore, and the vaccine-fuelled global recovery should continue to assist the domestic recovery in Australia.
  • With the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Bank of Canada both having introduced a hawkish bias, the pressure on the RBA is on and while we think that this should be an 'in between' meeting, any surprise would likely be on the hawkish side. This translates into a balance of risks for the Australian dollar that is slightly tilted to the upside ...