How the RBA cash rate reaches your money
One number, set eight times a year in Sydney, flows through to your mortgage, your savings and the price of your shares. Here is how.
Explainers
Plain-English guides to the numbers on this site: what each one measures, how to read it, and where its record is strong or weak.
Headline CPI or the trimmed mean? Which inflation number matters
Australia publishes several inflation figures each month, and they often disagree. The Reserve Bank watches one more closely than the rest.
How to read the monthly jobs figures
The ABS Labour Force release moves markets every month. The headline numbers are simple; reading them well takes a little more care.
What the yield curve is telling you
The gap between short and long-term US bond yields has a long record of turning negative before recessions. Its longest inversion on record was not followed by one. Here is how to read it.
Credit spreads, the bond market's fear gauge
When lenders get nervous about companies paying them back, they demand more. That extra yield has a habit of rising before share markets fall.
What moves the Australian dollar
The dollar is one of the most traded currencies in the world, and it answers to forces far from Australia. Four of them do most of the work.
Iron ore, China and the Australian dollar
One commodity, sold mostly to one country, has an outsized influence on Australia's income, its budget, its biggest companies and its currency.
How to read crypto price moves
A 10 per cent day would be historic for the ASX. In crypto it happens often. Here is how to put a move in context before reacting to it.