Australia’s central bank said it’s impossible to confidently predict the path for policy after raising interest rates for a second time this year as a surge in oil prices from the Middle East war fans inflation risks. The Reserve Bank saw a risk that inflation would overshoot its target range for a “prolonged period,” minutes of its March 16-17 meeting showed, after it raised the cash rate to 4.1%...
Australia’s central bank said it’s impossible to confidently predict the path for policy after raising interest rates for a second time this year as a surge in oil prices from the Middle East war fans inflation risks. The Reserve Bank saw a risk that inflation would overshoot its target range for a “prolonged period,” minutes of its March 16-17 meeting showed, after it raised the cash rate to 4.1%. Board members discussed the case to leave policy unchanged but decided that the arguments for a hike were “stronger,” according to the record of the meeting released in Sydney on Tuesday. RBA board members said that “it was not possible to predict the future path for the cash rate target with any confidence, given the high degree of uncertainty around the breadth and duration of the current conflict in the Middle East.” The minutes showed that all members had agreed that a further tightening in monetary policy was needed, though a minority of four believed a hike could wait until there was more evidence that demand continued to exceed supply. “The rise in oil prices had further increased the risk that inflation would remain above target for a prolonged period,” the minutes showed. Staff members shared a simple estimate with board members that the direct effect via petrol prices of oil remaining around $100 a barrel would on its own lift headline inflation in Australia to around 5% in the June quarter from a year ago. That’s a three quarter of a percentage point higher than its February forecast and well above the midpoint of the RBA’s 2-3% target range. “The case to increase the cash rate target at the current meeting was founded on a view that the risk that inflation may not return to target within a reasonable timeframe had increased enough to warrant an immediate response,” the minutes showed. While the RBA’s March meeting took place after the US-Israeli war on Iran had begun, the conflict has since broadened, with Tehran’s proxies launching attacks on American allies ...
Rec Room, a Roblox-like social gaming platform that lets users create games and experiences for others to play, is shutting down on June 1st. Despite reaching more than 150 million players and creators and, at one point, being valued at $3.5 billion , the company says in a blog post that "we never quite figured out how to make Rec Room a sustainably profitable business" and that "our costs always ...
Rec Room, a Roblox-like social gaming platform that lets users create games and experiences for others to play, is shutting down on June 1st. Despite reaching more than 150 million players and creators and, at one point, being valued at $3.5 billion , the company says in a blog post that "we never quite figured out how to make Rec Room a sustainably profitable business" and that "our costs always ended up overwhelming the revenue we brought in." The company also notes that "with the recent shift in the VR market, along with broader headwinds in gaming, the path to profitability has gotten tough enough that we've made the difficult decision t … Read the full story at The Verge.