This week has not disappointed in terms of the importance of the data, both locally and internationally. For a while, markets have been speculating that central banks globally might shift tack towards interest rate cuts in 2024. This speculation reached a crescendo this week with the United States Federal Reserve indicating that US rates have likely reached their peak and that 75bps of cuts are possible in 2024. Locally, we saw data on elements of the Consumers Price Index and GDP which pushed in the same direction – i.e., towards expectations of weaker inflation pressures both now and over the medium term. This data ... (full story)