The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Consumer inflation expectations surge

From Dow Jones:

"SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Australian consumer inflationary expectations surged in October, marking the second straight gain after five straight months of declines, according to an industry survey published Thursday.

The Melbourne Institute Survey of Consumer Inflationary Expectations median expected inflation rate in September rose to 3.8% from 3.1% in September, partly reflecting a better-than-expected monthly jobs report for September. Still, the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised markets by keeping interest rates steady at 4.5% at its most recent meeting earlier this month.

Still, the survey found the amount of consumers expecting inflation to be within the RBA's target 2%-3% band decreased in the month to 15.1% from 19.0% a month ago.

"More respondents in this survey are expecting price changes greater than 10% in the next 12 months," said Michael Chua, a research fellow at the Melbourne Institute. "In contrast, the inflationary expectations of managers and professionals decreased from 3.4% to 3.3%, suggesting that not all respondents share the view that inflation will rise strongly.""