- RBA rate decision – 05/12 – back in November the RBA took the decision diverge from its peers and hike rates again, by 25bps to 4.35%, after 5 months of keeping it at 4.10%. In a sign that this could well be the last hike the guidance was tweaked from "further monetary tightening may be required" to "whether monetary tightening may be required" which at the time sent the Australian dollar sharply lower, although the recent weakness in the US dollar has seen the Aussie recover since then. Despite increasing evidence that inflation is slowing in the global economy the RBA clearly felt it necessary to close the gap on its peers when it comes to rate policy, in a sign that perhaps they are concerned about domestic price pressures. That said we are already seeing the economic numbers in China starting to respond to the piecemeal measures by authorities there to stimulate the economy, although the improvements have been fairly modest. We also saw another upside surprise in headline CPI, while Q2 GDP came in at 0.4%, above forecasts of 0.2% to the economy continues to remain resilient. No changes to policy are expected this week, however some ex-RBA staffers have suggested that we could see another rate hike if wages growth continues to remain strong.
- China Trade (Nov) – 07/12 – the recent set of Chinese Q3 GDP numbers pointed to a modest pickup in economic activity over the quarter in a sign that we are starting to see an improvement in the underlying numbers underpinning the Chinese economy. The recent October trade numbers helped to support the idea of a modest improvement however they don't change the fact that the economy still has some way to go when it comes to domestic demand which has remained subdued over the last 6 months. In October Chinese import data broke a run of 10 consecutive negative months by rising 3% in a sign that perhaps domestic demand is returning, beating forecasts of a 5% decline. Slightly more worrying was a bigger than expected decline in exports which fell -6.4%, the 6th month in a row they've been lower, and a worrying portend that global demand remains weak, and unlikely to pick up soon.
![Turbulent Q2'23 Results for [Company Name]: Strong Exports Offset Domestic Challenges](https://www.fxmag.com/media/cache/main_box_filter/uploads/articles/2022-FXMAG-COM/GPWA/gpw-s-analytical-coverage-support-programme-wse-2-6311cd4191809-2022-09-02-11-30-41-63175bda84812-2022-09-06-16-40-26.png "Warsaw Stock Exchange: Brand24 (B24) - 1Q23 financial results")
![Turbulent Q2'23 Results for [Company Name]: Strong Exports Offset Domestic Challenges](https://www.fxmag.com/media/cache/article_small_filter/uploads/articles/2022-FXMAG-COM/GPWA/gpw-s-analytical-coverage-support-programme-wse-2-6311cd4191809-2022-09-02-11-30-41-63175bda84812-2022-09-06-16-40-26.png "Warsaw Stock Exchange: Brand24 (B24) - 1Q23 financial results")
