It is a reminder of just how far these markets have moved that even the savage fall in silver has merely taken us back to where we started the month. It would take more broad-based...

Even if the bank is starting to see data moving in the right direction, I don’t think they are anywhere near easing, so they don’t want to give the market any excuse to rally further.

This concern suggests it will take a lot of strength to get the Fed to tighten beyond 5 per cent.

There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that inflation is accelerating. In terms of when the bank can cut interest rates, we are still looking at sometime in the second half of the year.

It’s not hard to understand why business confidence surveys report significant pessimism.

We are seeing significant investment. The rate of addition to the capital stock is as great if not greater than anything we have seen in the past 20 years.

But we don’t think this language quarrels with the consensus view of financial markets – and our view – that an easing cycle will most likely begin in September.

He hopes that if he raises rates in December, combined with all this talk, then that would be enough.

It all looks pretty disappointing for the Reserve Bank.

They’ve made very good profits over the last four or five years. They’ve had a good run, so they’re well-placed to take a hit.

It will be a while yet before we are printing better numbers.