Overview
- The ABS reported headline CPI at 3.8% year on year in October, above the 3.6% consensus, with the trimmed mean at 3.3%.
- Electricity prices rose about 37% from a year earlier after state rebates expired, while housing inflation climbed to 5.9% and services to 3.9%.
- Traders lifted the Australian dollar and cut the probability of an RBA rate reduction in May 2026 to 27% from 40%, with bond futures falling.
- The release marked the ABS’s first complete monthly CPI, which the RBA says can be volatile, so policymakers still lean on quarterly readings.
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers said a decision on extending household energy bill rebates will come in the next few weeks.