RBA Holds Rates Once Again
It comes as the central bank reduces economic stimulus in face of pandemic.
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In today’s RBA announcement, Dr Philip Lowe announced that the board decided to hold interest rates at record low levels of 0.1%.
This is in line with its firm want to maintain the target of 10 basis points for the April 2024 Australian Government bond.
The central bank is sticking to its plan of reducing economic stimulus – in the form of weekly bond purchases – from $5 billion to $4 billion per week, despite the impact of the lockdown.
Elsewhere, Dr Lowe pointed to the housing market’s continued strength stating “with prices rising in all major markets. Housing credit growth has picked up, with strong demand from owner-occupiers, including first-home buyers. There has also been increased borrowing by investors.”
“The Bank is monitoring trends in housing borrowing carefully and it is important that lending standards are maintained,” added Lowe.
The RBA pointed out the economic outlook of the coming months is dependant on the evolution of the current COVID situation and the containment measures. However, Lowe also indicated that its modelling is based on a significant share of the population being vaccinated by the end of this year.
“The labour market has recovered faster than expected, with the unemployment rate declining further to 4.9 per cent in June. Job vacancies have remained at a high level and there are reports of labour shortages in parts of the economy,” Dr Lowe said in the statement.
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Fourth-quarter revenue climbed 24% to 110.61 billion yuan, equivalent to $15.30 billion, but missed estimates.
Fourth-quarter revenue climbed 24% to 110.61 billion yuan, equivalent to $15.30 billion, but missed estimates.
2 minThe Chinese owner of bargain app Temu reported slower quarterly profit and revenue growth, capping a turbulent year for the e-commerce giant as it faced stiff competition at home, geopolitical tensions abroad and U.S. tariff uncertainties.
PDD Holdings on Thursday said fourth-quarter revenue climbed 24% to 110.61 billion yuan, equivalent to $15.30 billion, missing a Visible Alpha estimate of 117.83 billion yuan. It was the slowest pace of growth since the first quarter of 2022.
Net profit rose 18% from a year earlier to 27.45 billion yuan, topping analysts’ expectations of 27.00 billion yuan. However, the growth was slower than the 61% rise in the third quarter and the more than twofold increase a year earlier.
“Looking ahead, we will continue to prioritize investments in the platform ecosystem as the cornerstone of our long-term value creation strategy,” said Jun Liu, PDD’s vice president of finance.
Jefferies analysts in a note said PDD’s top-line miss was due to slower-than-expected revenue growth from transaction services, while revenue from online marketing services and others was in line with consensus.
The easing momentum contrasted sharply with the stunning growth rates the company delivered in past years. PDD last year repeatedly warned of a slowdown, pointing to intensifying competition and external challenges.
Pinduoduo, the company’s discount platform in China, has grown rapidly since it launched nearly a decade ago, taking market share from e-commerce stalwarts Alibaba and JD.com . Its sister platform Temu burst onto the international scene in 2022 and swiftly gained attention in the U.S., attracting customers with low prices.
However, Temu has also encountered regulatory scrutiny as it expands overseas. U.S. President Trump in February delayed his plan to end a provision for China imports that lets platforms avoid paying import duties and customs inspections on low-value packages, offering the likes of Temu a brief reprieve.
For the full year, PDD’s total revenue rose 59% to 393.84 billion yuan and net profit climbed 87% to 60.03 billion yuan.
Last month, rival Alibaba posted its fastest pace of revenue growth since late 2023, with revenue for the latest quarter rising 7.6% to 280 billion yuan. Online retailer JD.com earlier this month nearly tripled its quarterly net profit as revenue climbed 13% to 346.99 billion yuan.
U.S.-listed PDD was recently 6.5% lower in premarket trading after the results.
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