September 28, 2025 • 13 mins
This week:
- The RBA meets, with rates expected to be on hold.
- Building approvals - are we getting housing supply up?
- Monthly house price data from Cotality
- Household spending for August - we've seen some green shoots. Can they continue?
Michael Thompson is joined by economist Stephen Koukoulas.
Fear & Greed Q+A: Join Sean Aylmer & Michael Thompson and the team as they answer questions on business, investing, economics, politics and more. If you have your own question, get in touch via our website, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A, where we
ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics and more.
I'm Michael Thompson and every Monday morning we are joined
by economist Stephen could Coolis. To look at the week ahead.
You'll find Stephen at the kook dot com. That's t
g k uk dot com and on X using the
handle the kuk Stephen, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning, Michael. Chaotick week last week and even more
chaos coming this week.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I love it. What a week ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's start with the week ahead, because really there are
so many headlines this week. Reserve Bank Board meets today
and tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon at two thirty we will
get the interest rate decision. No one is expecting a
rate cut tomorrow, right correct?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I don't think anybody is, and I don't think we're
going to get one for a few obvious reasons. One is,
and as the RBA has been saying in its recent
public commentary, there are some tentative hints of better economic news.
And you and I have spoken about this in recent weeks,
that things like the retail sectors a little bit, better
building approvals are picking up a little bit. The GDP
(01:10):
result that we saw a few weeks ago was a
little bit stronger. So they're looking at that and saying, well,
hang on, we've got seventy five points of rape cuts
already in the system. They're yet to have their full
effect on the economy. Let's just take a time out
tomorrow afternoon with our announcement of no change in rates,
and the governor can explain that at a press conference,
and let's wait and see what happens to the economy
(01:31):
after that.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So, based on the current trajectory, then you would expect
then that we might see another rate cut at the
following meeting, and maybe one more next year. Maybe. And
I know that the thing that strikes me as interesting
is that that ten economists can look at the same
set of data and come up with ten different predictions.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yes, and I think that's a good way of putting
out it. Look, I still think the RBA does have
in its mind a need, just a wish, but a
need to reduce the interstrate a little bit more, because,
as they're articulated, the three point six percent official cash
rate is restrictive. So if we were to just look
at isolation, ignore the data for a second, and I
(02:12):
know that's hard to do. You'd say a three point
six percent cash rate is imparting a little more downside
impetus to the economy than upside. And we know that
the neutral rate is still twenty five or so basis
points away, and so if you want to move to
a neutral or even just a tiny little bit stimulative policy,
(02:33):
you need those one or two rate cuts. But as
you alluded to, none tomorrow, maybe one before the end
of the year. There's two more meetings after that, in
November and December. Then we fast forward to February next
year for the next meeting, and of course, what happens
to inflation, what happens to the labor force numbers, what
happens globally will determine whether we get those one or
two cuts or not.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I want to focus as well on the rest of
the data and things that we're going to be seeing week,
but just bringing in something that did come out last week,
the monthly inflation data, because this is going to be
something that will be discussed at the Reserve Bank Board meeting.
We did see headline inflation jumping to three percent for
the year ending August. The trimmed mean up at two
(03:17):
point six percent, so they're still within the target band.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
They still are I think us economists, you know, we
are excitable sometimes, and we saw these numbers, and because
the headline figure in particular was a little above what
most people, not even but most people were thinking, oh well, gosh,
isn't that a problem? However, however, the Reserve Bank has
told us time and time and time again that the
(03:43):
monthly CPI is not in their top tier of indicators
that they look at. And the reasons are that they're
not a comprehensive survey of all prices on a monthly basis.
They are on the quarter, but month and month, they
don't survey a few bits and bobbers that go into
the figure, so misleading. The other thing that with this
spike in the headline figured, if we can call a
(04:04):
three percent inflationrator spike, was an unlined of what we
knew was happening. Some of those electricity subsidies that were
paid by the federal government by various state and territory
governments are slowly fading out of the system. And when
they fade out, that downward pressure that we saw on
headline inflation six and twelve months ago is reverting to normal.
(04:25):
So you're getting a what was it, a twenty four
point six percent increase in electricity prices. That's only because
of the substance, not because the economy is overheating. And
the other one, which I like to talk about is
tobacco taxes, and not that I'm sure how many people
paid the tobacco tax, any were given the you know,
the market whatever. But nonetheless, the Bureau Statistics count that
(04:46):
has headlined inflation, they're up about twelve and a half
percent in the year. So if you take those two
things out, we're still at two and a half percent,
and the Reserve Bank will not look at those two
indicators as.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Pressuring their official interest rates set.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
All right, So everyone getting excited last week just needs
to just calm down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Ye, have a cup of team, a bit of a
lie down, and wait for the next round of data
to come through.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Okay, in terms of data coming through this week, there
are a couple of key things that we need to
look at building approvals because this is going to that question.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Of the supply side.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Are we getting supply up?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The short answer is yes, is it as strong as
we would like not yet is the momentum going to
continue to go up? I think yes. And this is
where we know that the housing affordability, the housing shortage
which is still there in both the rental and the
owner occupyer market, first home buyomarket as well, we need
to build more houses. I don't know a housing economist
(05:47):
or anyone who's interested in the topic and interested in
intergenerational housing affordability that doesn't think we need to build
more houses, particularly that we know that immigration is going
to continue to bipartisan issue in Australia will be a
round two fifty thousand, three hundred thousand per annum, so
it's almost a million people extra in three years time.
We need to do a lot more houses to house
(06:09):
and let alone to address the shortage it's already there.
So long winded way of saying, we have seen a
turning point occurring in the number of new building approvals
for dwellings month to month. They're incredibly volatile. You just
get a couple of high rise apartment developments and you
get a big up and a big down, but the
trend is higher. Market's looking for a small increase this month.
(06:29):
If we get it terrific. It's just another little bit
of information suggesting that we are building more dwellings, which
is what we desperately need.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Meanwhile, there is still this upward pressure on house prices
and it's likely we'll see that confirmed in the report
from Catality this week.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yes, we know from their high frequency data that house
prices in the five cities that they publish the high
frequency data on are up about it'll be close to
one percent month on month, which is pretty high, and
that follows a point seven the previous month and a
point six. First of all, the monthly momentum is up.
That's feeding into a higher annual increase in house prices.
(07:07):
And the cities that have had a bit of a
pause at the start of the year, the boom cities Perth, Adelaide,
Brisbane are coming back and even poor old Melbourne, which
has been hit pretty hard for a whole host of reasons,
is coming back as well. So the Captality house price
series will show house price continuing to accelerate and pick up.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now we've spoken now over a number of weeks about
the increase in just basic optimism. Right, households are spending more.
Everyone's feeling a little bit better. We're willing to get
out there and actually spend, particularly on some discretionary items,
and put a bit more money into the economy. This week,
we are going to see the household spending data for August.
(07:50):
These good signs that we've seen and discussed, are they
going to continue?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Again, this is and I've got to be careful on
how adjectives the agective I used to describe it. We
are not in a booming economy now, no, But is
the economy in better shape and household spending in better
shape today than it was a year ago. Unambiguously yes.
And what we economists the Reserve Bank are mulling over
is the speed of that pickup. So I think we're
(08:18):
going to see another reasonable zero point five percent rise
in rise in household spending. That's sort of a nice
trend increase. It builds on the momentum that we've seen
in recent months, and as you said, it's reflecting the
fact that real wages are increasing, so wages growths above
the inflation rate. Still that we have had a wealth effect.
The ASEX well, it's been a bit choppy in the
(08:39):
last few weeks, is still well up from where it
was the start of the year and a year ago.
So there's a bit of a wealth effect there. Do
I mentioned high house prices is a wealth effect. People
feel better. Most people feel better when house prices are
going up. And the interest rate cuts that we've seen,
as we mentioned, they're starting to flow into the bank
balances and the monthly repayments of people, not just the
(09:01):
first twenty five points that's handy, but now I've had
three cuts. People are now starting to save real money
and they're sort of saying, well, thank goodness for that,
I can afford to go out and spend a bit more.
So that's a long winded way of saying, yes, I
think we are getting more upside by medum in household spending.
And remembering that household spending is over half GDP, it matters.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
You're sounding cautiously optimistic, Steve.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yes, cautiously optimistic, but I've occasionally had that premature optimism
that's been dashed, so I'm being more cautious. We probably
for me to get that fully fledged optimism coming through,
we do need to see a couple more rate cuts
from the RBA. We do need to see the global
economy consolidate and helping our exports sector. They are two
(09:46):
big question marks that are there at the moment. But
as we're here now, I'd be more upbeat than downbeat
as we start thinking about what the economy is going
to be doing in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Just quickly before we go, last week we had the
Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bulloch and a few of her
colleagues at Parliament House in Canberra appearing before a committee.
Which is always interesting, isn't it, because you do get,
as you mentioned last week, a different line of questioning.
It is slightly more political, but you do just get
a different insight. What did you make of the appearance
(10:18):
by the Reserve Bank team?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, look really good.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And as you alluded to, the politicians who asked the
questions and I think this time are actually a little
bit more non political if they're actually asking genuine questions
about the payment system for example, which the Reserve Bank
does oversea, and that is how we pay for stuff,
the demise of cash, if you like, and the and
the transport companies in the olden days used to rock
(10:43):
up to the shops and pick up the one hundred
dollar bills and ten cent pieces and all the rest
of it and distribute them around.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
They're going out of business because we're.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Tapping more and more. So discussions about those things which
are really important. About the extra surcharge that we have
on credit cards was part of the discussion as well,
So they're not necessarily monetary policy.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Think so some of us market economis like, oh, I
wish you'd.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Said a bit more about nayru and inflation, but it
was actually about the stuff that makes the economy work,
and that's really important part that we often we often
overlook what the Reserve Bank does, you know, note printing
and the payment system and those sorts and the surcharge fee.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
They're parts of the economy that are important and.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It was refreshing to see the RBA on the front foot,
I must say on those issues as well.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
The only thing that seemed to be a bit of
a worry was the comments by the Reserve Bank governor
that there isn't a great deal of risk priced into
equities at the moment and the potential then as well
for global uncertainty still to derail things. That we're heading
in a pretty good direction in Australia, but we are
still at risk of things well outside of our control.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
We are, and that's the thing that usually dominates RBA
thinking I've been around long enough looking at the RBA
and listening to them and talking to them. Of course
they focus on the Australian economy. But the thing that
they don't want to get wrong when they're forecasting the
Australian economy is global conditions, because as we saw, we
seen year after year after year, Australia gets caught in
(12:14):
the backwash of big global issues, be the pandemic, be
it a global financial crisis, be at the Asian economic crisis.
Things that are outside our control impact on Australia. So
the Reserve Bank does spend a lot of time, rightly
so looking at you know, asset bubbles dare I say,
in the US and things like that, and think, well, okay,
(12:34):
we don't forecast stocks, and we don't know quite where
they're going to go, and they could take going up.
We're not sure, but I think they had in their
top draw, maybe their second draw, contingencies if if there's
a bit of mayhem, and it can be a Trump
tariff mayhem as well, which I know they've done a
lot of work on or geopolitical issues. Again, how do
you respond? And this is not a mechanical thing, but
(12:55):
we need to be alert to the fact that there
could be a geopolitical issue that pops up in an
all good way for the global economy. What do we
do with monetary policy? So the bank is all over
it and that's good to know.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
In the meantime, we will find out the decision on
interest rates tomorrow afternoon, which will not be a surprise
to anybody, but a big week ahead.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Enjoy it, Stephen, I will thank you. Michael, you too.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
That was economist Stephen Cocolest, better known as the Kuk.
You can find him at the kook dot com and
follow him on x using the handle of the KUK.
I'm Michael Thompson and this is Fear and Breed Q
and a
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A, where we
ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics and more.
I'm Michael Thompson and every Monday morning we are joined
by economist Stephen could Coolis. To look at the week ahead.
You'll find Stephen at the kook dot com. That's t
g k uk dot com and on X using the
handle the kuk Stephen, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning, Michael. Chaotick week last week and even more
chaos coming this week.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I love it. What a week ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's start with the week ahead, because really there are
so many headlines this week. Reserve Bank Board meets today
and tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon at two thirty we will
get the interest rate decision. No one is expecting a
rate cut tomorrow, right correct?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I don't think anybody is, and I don't think we're
going to get one for a few obvious reasons. One is,
and as the RBA has been saying in its recent
public commentary, there are some tentative hints of better economic news.
And you and I have spoken about this in recent weeks,
that things like the retail sectors a little bit, better
building approvals are picking up a little bit. The GDP
(01:10):
result that we saw a few weeks ago was a
little bit stronger. So they're looking at that and saying, well,
hang on, we've got seventy five points of rape cuts
already in the system. They're yet to have their full
effect on the economy. Let's just take a time out
tomorrow afternoon with our announcement of no change in rates,
and the governor can explain that at a press conference,
and let's wait and see what happens to the economy
(01:31):
after that.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So, based on the current trajectory, then you would expect
then that we might see another rate cut at the
following meeting, and maybe one more next year. Maybe. And
I know that the thing that strikes me as interesting
is that that ten economists can look at the same
set of data and come up with ten different predictions.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yes, and I think that's a good way of putting
out it. Look, I still think the RBA does have
in its mind a need, just a wish, but a
need to reduce the interstrate a little bit more, because,
as they're articulated, the three point six percent official cash
rate is restrictive. So if we were to just look
at isolation, ignore the data for a second, and I
(02:12):
know that's hard to do. You'd say a three point
six percent cash rate is imparting a little more downside
impetus to the economy than upside. And we know that
the neutral rate is still twenty five or so basis
points away, and so if you want to move to
a neutral or even just a tiny little bit stimulative policy,
(02:33):
you need those one or two rate cuts. But as
you alluded to, none tomorrow, maybe one before the end
of the year. There's two more meetings after that, in
November and December. Then we fast forward to February next
year for the next meeting, and of course, what happens
to inflation, what happens to the labor force numbers, what
happens globally will determine whether we get those one or
two cuts or not.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I want to focus as well on the rest of
the data and things that we're going to be seeing week,
but just bringing in something that did come out last week,
the monthly inflation data, because this is going to be
something that will be discussed at the Reserve Bank Board meeting.
We did see headline inflation jumping to three percent for
the year ending August. The trimmed mean up at two
(03:17):
point six percent, so they're still within the target band.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
They still are I think us economists, you know, we
are excitable sometimes, and we saw these numbers, and because
the headline figure in particular was a little above what
most people, not even but most people were thinking, oh well, gosh,
isn't that a problem? However, however, the Reserve Bank has
told us time and time and time again that the
(03:43):
monthly CPI is not in their top tier of indicators
that they look at. And the reasons are that they're
not a comprehensive survey of all prices on a monthly basis.
They are on the quarter, but month and month, they
don't survey a few bits and bobbers that go into
the figure, so misleading. The other thing that with this
spike in the headline figured, if we can call a
(04:04):
three percent inflationrator spike, was an unlined of what we
knew was happening. Some of those electricity subsidies that were
paid by the federal government by various state and territory
governments are slowly fading out of the system. And when
they fade out, that downward pressure that we saw on
headline inflation six and twelve months ago is reverting to normal.
(04:25):
So you're getting a what was it, a twenty four
point six percent increase in electricity prices. That's only because
of the substance, not because the economy is overheating. And
the other one, which I like to talk about is
tobacco taxes, and not that I'm sure how many people
paid the tobacco tax, any were given the you know,
the market whatever. But nonetheless, the Bureau Statistics count that
(04:46):
has headlined inflation, they're up about twelve and a half
percent in the year. So if you take those two
things out, we're still at two and a half percent,
and the Reserve Bank will not look at those two
indicators as.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Pressuring their official interest rates set.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
All right, So everyone getting excited last week just needs
to just calm down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Ye, have a cup of team, a bit of a
lie down, and wait for the next round of data
to come through.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Okay, in terms of data coming through this week, there
are a couple of key things that we need to
look at building approvals because this is going to that question.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Of the supply side.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Are we getting supply up?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The short answer is yes, is it as strong as
we would like not yet is the momentum going to
continue to go up? I think yes. And this is
where we know that the housing affordability, the housing shortage
which is still there in both the rental and the
owner occupyer market, first home buyomarket as well, we need
to build more houses. I don't know a housing economist
(05:47):
or anyone who's interested in the topic and interested in
intergenerational housing affordability that doesn't think we need to build
more houses, particularly that we know that immigration is going
to continue to bipartisan issue in Australia will be a
round two fifty thousand, three hundred thousand per annum, so
it's almost a million people extra in three years time.
We need to do a lot more houses to house
(06:09):
and let alone to address the shortage it's already there.
So long winded way of saying, we have seen a
turning point occurring in the number of new building approvals
for dwellings month to month. They're incredibly volatile. You just
get a couple of high rise apartment developments and you
get a big up and a big down, but the
trend is higher. Market's looking for a small increase this month.
(06:29):
If we get it terrific. It's just another little bit
of information suggesting that we are building more dwellings, which
is what we desperately need.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Meanwhile, there is still this upward pressure on house prices
and it's likely we'll see that confirmed in the report
from Catality this week.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yes, we know from their high frequency data that house
prices in the five cities that they publish the high
frequency data on are up about it'll be close to
one percent month on month, which is pretty high, and
that follows a point seven the previous month and a
point six. First of all, the monthly momentum is up.
That's feeding into a higher annual increase in house prices.
(07:07):
And the cities that have had a bit of a
pause at the start of the year, the boom cities Perth, Adelaide,
Brisbane are coming back and even poor old Melbourne, which
has been hit pretty hard for a whole host of reasons,
is coming back as well. So the Captality house price
series will show house price continuing to accelerate and pick up.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now we've spoken now over a number of weeks about
the increase in just basic optimism. Right, households are spending more.
Everyone's feeling a little bit better. We're willing to get
out there and actually spend, particularly on some discretionary items,
and put a bit more money into the economy. This week,
we are going to see the household spending data for August.
(07:50):
These good signs that we've seen and discussed, are they
going to continue?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Again, this is and I've got to be careful on
how adjectives the agective I used to describe it. We
are not in a booming economy now, no, But is
the economy in better shape and household spending in better
shape today than it was a year ago. Unambiguously yes.
And what we economists the Reserve Bank are mulling over
is the speed of that pickup. So I think we're
(08:18):
going to see another reasonable zero point five percent rise
in rise in household spending. That's sort of a nice
trend increase. It builds on the momentum that we've seen
in recent months, and as you said, it's reflecting the
fact that real wages are increasing, so wages growths above
the inflation rate. Still that we have had a wealth effect.
The ASEX well, it's been a bit choppy in the
(08:39):
last few weeks, is still well up from where it
was the start of the year and a year ago.
So there's a bit of a wealth effect there. Do
I mentioned high house prices is a wealth effect. People
feel better. Most people feel better when house prices are
going up. And the interest rate cuts that we've seen,
as we mentioned, they're starting to flow into the bank
balances and the monthly repayments of people, not just the
(09:01):
first twenty five points that's handy, but now I've had
three cuts. People are now starting to save real money
and they're sort of saying, well, thank goodness for that,
I can afford to go out and spend a bit more.
So that's a long winded way of saying, yes, I
think we are getting more upside by medum in household spending.
And remembering that household spending is over half GDP, it matters.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
You're sounding cautiously optimistic, Steve.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yes, cautiously optimistic, but I've occasionally had that premature optimism
that's been dashed, so I'm being more cautious. We probably
for me to get that fully fledged optimism coming through,
we do need to see a couple more rate cuts
from the RBA. We do need to see the global
economy consolidate and helping our exports sector. They are two
(09:46):
big question marks that are there at the moment. But
as we're here now, I'd be more upbeat than downbeat
as we start thinking about what the economy is going
to be doing in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Just quickly before we go, last week we had the
Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bulloch and a few of her
colleagues at Parliament House in Canberra appearing before a committee.
Which is always interesting, isn't it, because you do get,
as you mentioned last week, a different line of questioning.
It is slightly more political, but you do just get
a different insight. What did you make of the appearance
(10:18):
by the Reserve Bank team?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, look really good.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And as you alluded to, the politicians who asked the
questions and I think this time are actually a little
bit more non political if they're actually asking genuine questions
about the payment system for example, which the Reserve Bank
does oversea, and that is how we pay for stuff,
the demise of cash, if you like, and the and
the transport companies in the olden days used to rock
(10:43):
up to the shops and pick up the one hundred
dollar bills and ten cent pieces and all the rest
of it and distribute them around.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
They're going out of business because we're.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Tapping more and more. So discussions about those things which
are really important. About the extra surcharge that we have
on credit cards was part of the discussion as well,
So they're not necessarily monetary policy.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Think so some of us market economis like, oh, I
wish you'd.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Said a bit more about nayru and inflation, but it
was actually about the stuff that makes the economy work,
and that's really important part that we often we often
overlook what the Reserve Bank does, you know, note printing
and the payment system and those sorts and the surcharge fee.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
They're parts of the economy that are important and.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It was refreshing to see the RBA on the front foot,
I must say on those issues as well.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
The only thing that seemed to be a bit of
a worry was the comments by the Reserve Bank governor
that there isn't a great deal of risk priced into
equities at the moment and the potential then as well
for global uncertainty still to derail things. That we're heading
in a pretty good direction in Australia, but we are
still at risk of things well outside of our control.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
We are, and that's the thing that usually dominates RBA
thinking I've been around long enough looking at the RBA
and listening to them and talking to them. Of course
they focus on the Australian economy. But the thing that
they don't want to get wrong when they're forecasting the
Australian economy is global conditions, because as we saw, we
seen year after year after year, Australia gets caught in
(12:14):
the backwash of big global issues, be the pandemic, be
it a global financial crisis, be at the Asian economic crisis.
Things that are outside our control impact on Australia. So
the Reserve Bank does spend a lot of time, rightly
so looking at you know, asset bubbles dare I say,
in the US and things like that, and think, well, okay,
(12:34):
we don't forecast stocks, and we don't know quite where
they're going to go, and they could take going up.
We're not sure, but I think they had in their
top draw, maybe their second draw, contingencies if if there's
a bit of mayhem, and it can be a Trump
tariff mayhem as well, which I know they've done a
lot of work on or geopolitical issues. Again, how do
you respond? And this is not a mechanical thing, but
(12:55):
we need to be alert to the fact that there
could be a geopolitical issue that pops up in an
all good way for the global economy. What do we
do with monetary policy? So the bank is all over
it and that's good to know.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
In the meantime, we will find out the decision on
interest rates tomorrow afternoon, which will not be a surprise
to anybody, but a big week ahead.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Enjoy it, Stephen, I will thank you. Michael, you too.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
That was economist Stephen Cocolest, better known as the Kuk.
You can find him at the kook dot com and
follow him on x using the handle of the KUK.
I'm Michael Thompson and this is Fear and Breed Q
and a
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