The Reserve Bank of Australia expected to leave rates on hold

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)  is due to announce its decision on interest rates at 2.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

The economists surveyed by AAP said the cash rate will remain at a 49 year low of three per cent after the central bank’s board meeting on August 4.

“The RBA appears to have no intention of reducing the cash rate any further,” said Matt Robinson, an economist with Moody’s Economy.com.

“I think a housing market bubble is starting to form, and given the sentiment that governor Stevens expressed in his speech to the Australian Business Economists, that is something that the RBA is watching and that would be a reason for them to maybe hike interest rates earlier.”

There were doubts about whether the RBA would be deterred from raising rates if unemployment continued to rise.

The RBA has kept the cash rate at 3 per cent for three consecutive months.

Michael Turner, an economist with financial markets research group 4Cast, said the prospect of rising unemployment would mean the cental bank could keep rates steady until well into 2010.

“We’re still of the opinion the worse is yet to come and things look better now than they did a couple of months ago, which is why we’re now calling it on hold (in August) rather than going lower,” he said.

“But we still think there’s enough of a story in the lack of utilisation in the economy at the moment that price pressure might be moderate enough at 3 per cent.

“We’re currently chewing on a rate rise in 2010 at the moment. It’s possible, but not until late 2010.”

If you look at the split in the market or the way the debate was being conducted it was very much the idea that the RBA isn’t going to hike because they never have while the jobless rate has been rising.

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Rove McManus marries Tasma Walton in secret ceremony

ROVE McManus and Tasma Walton have tied the knot in a secret ceremony on a beach in Broome, Western Australia. 

They were married yesterday and celebrated the day with a small group of close family and friends.

It was Tasma who proposed to Rove, having first asked his mother for her blessing. There are no honeymoon plans and both Rove and Tasma will be returning to the east coast for work commitments.

Tasma said: “The day was everything we hoped for: simple, quiet and intimate, in a beautiful Broome landscape with a small group of family and close friends celebrating beside us.

Rove said: “Tasma and I are very happy and look forward to that continuing for a long time to come. It was wonderful to get to share that happiness with both our families and friends around us.”

Tasma wore a white, vintage 1970’s sundress. Rove wore no shoes.

The news comes as a shock given Walton, just two weeks ago, shut down the prospect of imminent marriage, saying: “Beyond this year, we’ll see what happens”.

News of their relationship hit the headlines in October 2007, a year after McManus lost his wife, Belinda Emmett, to cancer.

In a recent interview with the Herald Sun, McManus, renowned for guarding his privacy, confessed he was in a state of happiness that, two years ago, he’d have thought impossible.

“Yes, and not only that, it’s wonderful to have someone to share it with again,” he said.

Read full article in  http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25649256-5012974,00.html  :

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