There were no data releases from Australia tomorrow. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Official Cash rate is still at 1.50%, a record low and the longest unchanged interest rate in the country’s history. No changes are fully-priced into rate futures markets until the end of 2019. No wonder, perhaps then, that the poor old Aussie Dollar should be struggling. The problem for both Asia Pacific economies is, of course inflation; the lack of it, to be specific. While neither country is performing especially badly, particularly on the employment front, pricing power remains stubbornly absent. Japanese consumer price inflation got up to 1.5% in February of this year. That was a near three-year high and the sight of it raised hopes that the BoJ’s 2% target might be within reach.
In the US session New Home Sales figures were released. Sales of new single-family houses in May 2018 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 689,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 6.7 percent above the revised April rate of 646,000 and is 14.1 percent above the May 2017 estimate of 604,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in May 2018 was $313,000. The average sales price was $368,500.
There will be no major data releases from Australia tomorrow. In the US session Consumer Confidence figures will be published. Analysts predict decline to 127.6.
Figures to watch:
CB Consumer Confidence (Tuesday 15:00)
