Next week the US Federal Reserve will hold a research conference in Chicago as part of its review into the objectives and the operation of monetary policy. Further meetings will be held with stakeholders over the coming months, with findings due to be communicated to the public in the first half of next year. In recent years the widespread practice of targeting low rates of inflation has been found wanting. Our chart shows a long moving average of inflation in six inflation-targeting economies: the US, the euro area, the UK, Japan, Canada and New Zealand. Central Banks in each of

Last year, we argued that Australia had several aces up its sleeve helping it to avoid recession despite the downturn in its largest trading partner — China. We were right. Now, China appears to be throwing in the towel on rebalancing and doubling down in a bid to kick-start growth. Refresh the chart in your browser | Edit chart in Datastream Last week, after keeping policy on hold for a year, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to an all-time low of 1.75%. That decision came less than a week after data