Minutes suggested the central bank is in no rush to cut the official cash rate
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SYDNEY—The Reserve Bank of Australia remains jittery about the risks of higher inflation and will have little tolerance for any data that point to further delays in taming price pressures, according to the minutes of its latest policy meeting.
“Given the already lengthy period in which inflation had been above (2% to 3%) target, the board will have minimal tolerance to accommodate a more prolonged period of high inflation, even if this occurred because of factors that constrained the economy’s supply capacity,” minutes of the meeting held on Nov. 4-5 said.
The RBA left the official cash rate at 4.35% at the meeting, completing a full year since policy settings were last changed.
Economists remain confident that the RBA will start to cut interest rates in the first half of next year, but money markets are far less optimistic, with recent swap market pricing suggesting the RBA could be delayed until August.
To be sure, the minutes suggested the RBA is in no rush to cut the OCR, given numerous warnings about stubborn inflation pressures and a comment that the board will need to see more than one good quarterly inflation outcome to be confident that a fall in inflation was sustainable.
Inflation remained above the target band in the third quarter, with policymakers concerned that core inflation readings remain stubbornly high, while price pressures in the services sector of the economy remain sticky.
“Members observed that underlying inflation…remained too high and that staff forecasts did not see inflation returning to target until 2026,” the minutes said.
The RBA said it isn’t ruling anything in or out in terms of policy decisions, implying that under the right conditions, an interest rate increase might still be needed.
The minutes showed the policy-setting board explored several scenarios that might see it raise or lower the OCR.
The RBA was among the last of the major central banks to start raising interest rates following the global spike in inflation at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, while also not tightening as far as its peers over ensuing years.
Global events might yet determine the outlook for interest rates. The minutes cited a number of growing international risks including uncertainty about the policy direction of the Trump White House, the size and composition of stimulus to support China’s economy, and the potential for unsustainable growth in global government debt.
“It was not yet possible to factor in events such as these, given pertinent details were unknown and still largely unpredictable,” the minutes said.
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A survey of people with at least $1 million in investable assets found women in their 30s and 40s look nothing like older generations in terms of assets and priorities
A survey of people with at least $1 million in investable assets found women in their 30s and 40s look nothing like older generations in terms of assets and priorities
2 min
Millennial women’s wealth is outpacing men’s as a new generation inherits and grows their assets at a wider scale than ever before, according to RBC Wealth Management.
In a survey of roughly 2,000 men and women with at least $1 million in investable assets, millennial women respondents had an average of $4.6 million, compared with $3.8 million for women of all age groups and $4.5 million for all men.
Inheritance is one part of the picture, as baby boomers are expected to transfer $124 trillion to the next generation, but so is the progress millennial women have made in the world of business, investment and lucrative professional careers as they close the gap with men.
“Millennial women are catching up, or have outpaced the males as far as their wealth building,” said Angie O’Leary, head of wealth strategies at RBC. “We know that’s coming from a more diversified set of investments, such as entrepreneurship, real estate and of course, investments [in financial markets].”
Millennial women, now in their 30s and 40s, tend to differ from earlier generations of women more than they do from men in terms of their source of wealth. While investments were the largest driver of wealth across all categories, millennial women cited business ownership, innovation, and executive roles far more than Gen X or boomer women.
More than 60% of millennial women cited business ownership and more than 40% mentioned executive roles, but neither exceeded 22% for either Gen Xers and Boomers. Younger women also grew their fortunes from professional sports or arts 39% of the time, compared with just 6% and 1% for Gen Xers and Boomers, respectively.
In terms of inheritance, the gap between generations was smaller. About 37% of men and 35% of women cited family money as a source of wealth overall, breaking down to 44% of millennials, 30% of Gen X and 33% of boomer women.
With women controlling so much wealth, their spending and investments as a group are evolving and extending into areas previously considered stereotypically male such as real estate, cars and watches, O’Leary said. “Women are starting to look a lot like their male counterparts when it comes to investments, real estate, philanthropy,” she said. “That’s a really interesting emerging female economy.”
In real estate, for example, single women made up 20% of home buyers in 2024 up from 11% in 1981, when the National Association of Realtors began tracking the data. By contrast, single men make up 8% of the market and have never exceeded 10%, according to NAR.
While men and women shared largely similar priorities overall in terms of well-being, relationships, legacy and personal drive, younger generations of women were successively more likely to value drive and personal power, and successively less likely to rank relationships and social bonds—though that could also be a function of age and stage of life.
“This generational shift suggests evolving societal norms and responsibilities, where younger women seek personal achievements, while older cohorts value nurturing connections and community stability, affecting their financial and lifestyle choices,” the report said.
