RBA’s Bullock: Further rate cuts implied by market not guaranteed

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Michele Bullock is speaking at the press conference, following the announcement of the February monetary policy decision on Tuesday.

Earlier this Tuesday, the RBA lowered the benchmark interest rate to 4.1% as widely expected.  

Key quotes

Clear that high rates have worked.

Cannot declare victory on inflation yet.

Strength of jobs market has been surprising.

Further rate cuts implied by market not guaranteed.

Cannot get too ahead of ourselves on rates.

Rate cut was a difficult decision.

Further cuts will depend on data.

Need to see upside risks to inflation abate a bit, including wage costs.

Would be good to see some recovery in supply side of economy.

Tariff threats are unpredictable, would be bad for economic activity.

May not have as much room to cut, since we did not hike as far as others.

The decision to cut was consensus.

We do want to aim at middle of the 2-3% target band.

Market reaction

AUD/USD is back above 0.6350 on the above comments, still losing 0.06% on the day, as of writing.