Shane Solly: Harbour Asset Management spokesperson on the US potentially cutting interest rates

US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has hinted interest rate cuts could be coming from September.

In a recent address, Powell indicated upside risks to inflation have diminished, and the downside risks to employment have increased.

Harbour Asset Management's Shane Solly says these comments struck the right tone with markets, causing sharemarkets to go up as a result.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
US FED Reserve Chair j Powell has said that the
time has come for interest rate cuts. He's speaking at
the fed's annual Jackson Hole Retreat, and Shane Solely from
Harbor Asset Management is with us on the say, Shane,
how did the markets react to this? How did he sound?
What was the tone?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, the time has come. Jay has certainly pulled the
pen on this, and he said, look the upside rest inflation,
they're diminished, so we're actually seeing a deflation disinflationary period
of time. And he's more worried about this down so
risk to the employment in the US. So he didn't
commit to a particular pace of rate cuts. So that's
left market's a little bit wary the timing and the
pace that's to be depending on data. It's always data

(00:37):
dependent when it comes to central bankers. But overall it
struck the right table with markets. We saw interest rates
fall across the board, and we saw share markets up
and the U. S. Dollar down, and I think we
really have seen something the market had expected. But this
confirmation here. So little bit more data out this week,
sort in the next few days, and some house price

(00:57):
data is some consumer confidence data, but it's going to
put more fuel on the when rather than if and
how much.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Man in New Zealand, it has been busy with all
of the companies reporting in the last week or so.
You seeing any trends here in what you're actually witnessing.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, Unfortunately, we're seeing more misses against expectations. The companies
are coming in slightly lower than expected than beats. But look,
it's a feeling there's a little bit of a green
shoots out there. We've seen a couple of big misses
from companies like Fletcher Building in spar The literacity companies
obviously had a bit of an impact from this dry year.
But there's some green shoots coming through, a bit of

(01:32):
costs peaking and certainly some companies starting to show some
confidence in terms of talking about the future in terms
of growth, a couple talking about buying back their own shares.
Even so, there is a sort of a feeling we're
bounced along the bottom. It's a bit hazy, but certainly
this sort of suggestion we're seeing the worst.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Of things, and then this upcoming week we've got a
whole bunch as well. I think a New Zealand's probably
going to be one of the big ones and probably
not that flash. What else is going on?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, look we've got another thirty end companies reporting this week.
We had Cora, the Lions company out today, better result
than expected driven Sorry that actually result wasn't That wasn't better,
but they provided a high dividend income payment which saw
the stock price cup nine percent. A couple of others
out today, Property for Ministry, steal and Tube Somerset all
online and they were just noting a bit of a

(02:18):
caution around the recovery in the border of New Zealand economy. Tomorrow,
I've got Media Company in Adme, Tourism Holdings, the Victor
of Vulcan Steel Wednesday, Meridian Precinct Properties Scales and then
Thursdays you say in New Zeon and Heartland groups. So
assuming another bunch of companies, some exposed to domestic economy,
some less so. But you know, with fingers christ we

(02:39):
might be seeing the bottom of the evenings downgrade cycle
for New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, here's hoping. Shane. It's good to talk to you.
As always, We'll talk to you next week again. Look
after yourself, Shane. Solely harbor Assic Management.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
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