The CBA PR Machine

The CBA PR Machine. Some nice coverage for the CBA in today's Age, suggesting that they may not follow the recent home loan rate rises pushed through by the other majors (including NAB's inspired ANZAC day hike). Have I missed something? Weren't CBA the first of the major banks to hike rates in this round, right after St George? I guess it's just another example of the power of CBA's PR folk, together with their kamikaze koalas.
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The Most Useless Man in Australia?

The most useless man in Australia? They better not be referring to Michael Clarke, who as we all know, is a dead set legend. - RBA Governor Stevens, on the other hard, seems to be some distance off dead set legend status, thanks to a tendency to meet alarming inflation numbers with interest rate increases. We wonder what will happen if today's off-the-scale PPI numbers (1.9% vs. market forecast of 1%.) translate into similar CPI numbers. What price another rate hike? Will the fear of adjectives even harsher than 'useless' steer the RBA in another direction? Or is Michael Clarke really to blame for all this?
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Mission Accomplished

Mission Accomplished
Great news! Apparently the war on inflation is over, with the RBA announcing its victory on 2/4/08. The high inflation number expected on April 23 will have no bearing on this, nor will mid-year tax cuts. The SFE rate tracker now has the prospect of a May rate hike at a paltry 10%. On the flipside, the odds of a Bulldogs flag have tightened to 31: 1, so the two are indeed coming together.
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