The main focus today is the Bank of Japan announcement and following press conference from Governor Kuroda
But, ahead of that we'll get the minutes of the December Reserve Bank of Australia meeting
- The cash rate was left unchanged at 1.5%
- The minutes today should give us more detail on the Bank's view of the economy & policy direction
- Last Friday we got what I thought were surprising comments from the Bank's Luci Ellis. Actually the comments themselves were not surprising but the fact that she made them, and felt the need to make them, that was what piqued my interest: Avoiding recession is 'main game' for RBA says its new chief economist
The Bank meets again in February, and I am looking for clues after Ellis' remarks that the meeting may well be 'live' (in the sense there is potential for a rate cut). I don't want to overstate this, but in the context of a negative turn for GDP in Q3 (and a big one) and subdued results for the data that will contribute to Q4 GDP so far (and yes, its early days) I am on heightened alert.
