The bar is set “very high” for further interest rate cuts analysts say

Two sets of data released this week have analysts increasingly wary about the prospects for further interest rate cuts, with any move at the next meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia in December seen as very unlikely, while some believe the rate-cutting cycle is now over. Early in the week, we saw the release of the long-running Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index, which tracks the confidence of consumers, and which swung heavily to be back in positive territory for the first time since 2022. Westpac’s head of Australian macro-forecasting, Matthew Hassan, said the numbers were a shock. As he…