- The Reserve Bank Of Australia Did Not Change Interest Rates
- Oil Continued Its Losses On Delta Concerns
- New Measures To Crypto In The USA Are On The Way
The Reserve Bank Of Australia Did Not Change Interest Rates
While the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) did not make any changes in the policy rate, it emphasized that reducing the asset purchase program will be carried out as planned.
Despite expectations of a decline in the country’s economy in the third quarter, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) surprised markets today by deciding to begin cutting bond purchases in early September.
The central bank will continue to buy government bonds at a rate of A$5 billion per week until early September. It will reduce its purchases to A$4 billion per week until November 2021.
While emphasizing that Australia’s economic recovery has been more remarkable than projected, RBA governor Philip Lowe warned that new Covid-19 outbreaks in the third quarter of 2021 might disrupt the recovery.
“The recent outbreaks of the virus are interrupting the recovery, and GDP is expected to decline in the September quarter. The experience to date has been that once the virus outbreaks are contained, the economy bounces back quickly,” he said.
Lowe stated that they do not want to go faster than the Fed in the withdrawal of stimulus packages, while Fed Chairman Jerome Powell noted that the USA still needs time to reduce its asset purchase program.
Soon the RBA expects unemployment to fall to 4.25% by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, it expects it to decline to 4% by the end of 2023.
Oil Continued Its Losses On Delta Concerns
Oil is trading at $71 a barrel as investors focus on risks from the spread of the delta variant.
West Texas Oil slumped slightly after falling 3.6 percent on Monday, marking its most significant loss in two weeks.
While the highly contagious delta variant forces governments to take new quarantine measures, investors keep a close eye on the number of cases in China, the largest crude oil market.
In Indonesia, the largest petrol importer in Asia, restrictions have been extended until August 9. The demand for motor fuel, on the other hand, had lost almost a quarter before the extension decision was made.
While crude oil prices made a strong rally in the first half of the year with the start of vaccination in significant economies, the rise in prices decelerated in July with OPEC countries’ agreement on more production and delta variant concerns.
“The demand for energy remains intact, and there appears to be many waiting to buy on dips,” said Howie Lee, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., adding that a large part of the demand is still coming from the U.S. “We see a peak of $80 Brent before the end of this year.”
West Texas Oil for September delivery was little changed on Tuesday at $71.30 a barrel after falling 3.6 percent on Monday on the Nymex market.
Brent oil for October delivery rose 0.1 percent to $72.93 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Europe market.
New Measures To Crypto In The USA Are On The Way
Gary Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. capital markets regulator SEC, wants to follow cryptocurrencies more tightly.
Gensler said that while he is “neutral” with blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, he is “not neutral” on investor protection.
Giving his most comprehensive interview to date on cryptocurrencies to Bloomberg, Gensler said, “If someone wants to speculate, it’s their choice, but we as a government need to protect our investors against scammers.”
Gensler, who requested legal authorization from the U.S. Congress to monitor cryptocurrencies, emphasized that the SEC’s current powers are pretty extensive.
In recent years, the issue of which cryptocurrencies will be subject to the control of the SEC has been on the agenda frequently. Bitcoin and some other currencies are traded as commodities, not securities. But there are thousands of other cryptocurrencies, and Gensler argues that most of them should be treated as securities subject to SEC rules.
In addition, a broad crackdown on cryptocurrency transactions is buried in the still-unreleased bipartisan infrastructure package, which could raise big tax money for the government and cause major fear in a financial technology business that thrived during the coronavirus pandemic.
Many in the sector are concerned about the idea, fearing that they will be hit with several new laws that they would have to live with for years.
