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."

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

RBS calling rate hike in February

They have big kahunas, these guys at RBS:

"These minutes suggest to us that the Bank has maintained its tightening bias as it continues to focus on the medium term risks to the outlook. Its key concerns remain centred around the massive boost to national income from the commodity boom and its potential to generate inflationary pressures given the low level of unemployment.

On this basis, we continue to think that rates are still headed significantly higher over the next year and expect an eventual peak of 6%, which is at the high end of broker forecasts, with the next hike in February. The key to this will be the important employment and inflation data due out in January and we expect that strength in these numbers will be enough to prompt the Bank to lift the cash rate again."