00:00 That the Reserve Bank didn't change the overnight cash rate was not a surprise.
00:06 What was a surprise is that it didn't change the words that go with it.
00:10 That is, Governor Michelle Bullock's statement and subsequent press conference retained what
00:14 the Market Peanut Gallery calls its 'neutral bias'.
00:18 As a result of that, the dollar fell at $2.30 this afternoon as bets on rate hikes were
00:23 pared back a bit.
00:24 And the All Ordinaries Index on the share market went up for the same reason.
00:28 So the dollar is now trading below 66 US cents, well down from where it was last night.
00:33 And the share market closed 1.4% higher, thanks to solid gains by miners and retailers, as
00:39 well as banks, led by Westpac after its special dividend yesterday.
00:43 Pundits were a bit less thrilled by ANZ's $2 billion buyback announced this morning.
00:48 So obviously cash is preferred.
00:51 Global markets were pretty strong last night and today, kicked off by a 1 per center in
00:55 New York, and on commodity markets the big mover was silver, up 3.5%.
01:01 And there was some economic data ahead of today's interest rate decision that might
01:05 have actually influenced the RBA's language.
01:08 Retail sales fell in the March quarter and are up just 0.8% for the year.
01:12 The only quarterly rise in retail was from Black Friday discounting last year.
01:17 And more to the point, retail volumes are falling, while values are flat to rising,
01:23 which means retail is being held up by inflation and by immigration.
01:28 Total retail sales have fallen since rates started going up, but on a per capita basis,
01:33 the fall is much greater.
01:35 And that's finance.
01:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]
