Economic Update Archive
Strategic Financial Advice
August 2025 brings key economic shifts for Australia, with inflation pressures, interest rate cuts, and global uncertainty shaping investment and business confidence. This update breaks down what it means for you.
Strategic Financial Advice
Our May 2025 Economic Update unpacks global market volatility, tariff impacts, Australian economic indicators, and fixed income developments.
Strategic Financial Advice
A rally in the second half of the month helped global share markets generate solid gains in January, extending the rally from November and December.
Strategic Financial Advice
July was a relatively uneventful month in financial markets and volatility remained low. Risk assets continued to perform well despite a sharp increase in the oil price. In fact July was the best month for oil since January 2022.
Strategic Financial Advice
Investment markets were relatively calm in April, following a period of heightened volatility in March when banking failures in the US and Europe had shaken confidence.
Strategic Financial Advice
Unlike in other regions, inflation still appears to be accelerating in Australia. Headline inflation rose at an annual rate of 7.8% in the December quarter, while the ‘trimmed mean’, the favoured measure among Reserve Bank of Australia officials, quickened to 6.9% year on year. This was the highest level since the series was introduced in 2003.
Strategic Financial Advice
Equity and bond markets bounced back hard from disappointing returns in June, amid suggestions that rising interest rates in key regions will help bring inflation under control.
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Inflationary forces continued to intensify in key regions, which suggested interest rates could be raised more quickly and more aggressively than previously anticipated.
Strategic Financial Advice
Investors remained focused on rising inflation and the possibility of policy settings being tightened worldwide.
Strategic Financial Advice
The Covid situation took a turn for the worse, as spiralling infections saw new lockdowns introduced in Australia. The government has suggested all restrictions can be lifted once 70% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated. Until then, the outlook for economic activity levels has deteriorated.
