20 Quotes by Michael Blythe

The most likely outcome is that interest rates will rise.

So we suspect that it won't take much to give the RBA that extra shove toward tightening.

There were new building regulations there that took effect from July 1 which are going to bump up the cost of new houses. It looks like there was a last minute rush to beat that which pumped up previous months and created this pothole for us to fall into in July,

It's on the side of the ledger for a tightening bias. But with uncertainty about global growth and oil prices, the bank isn't likely to move rates anytime soon.

Consumer caution was shaping up as the major domestic risk to the Australian economic outlook in 2006. Good labor market outcomes were always going to be the best antidote to this caution.

Consumer caution persists and a weak housing sector remains a drag on overall services sector activity.

Strong employment keeps alive the risks to wage inflation and the central bank's concerns.

It's confirmation the economy stepped down several gears in the second half of 2005. It is hard to be too pessimistic for the outlook for 2006, but it is one of those indicators that says there is no hurry to do anything on rates.

This is confirming that the Australian economy stepped down several gears in the second half of last year.