Author: ozdemog

The extreme rise in the share price of the major Australian Bank CBA over the past 18 Months (compared to the 3 other big Banks) has caused ripples of concern for superannuation fund chief investment officers (CIOs) who have been underweight this stock which makes up about 10% of the Australian shares index .  

Since mid-February 2024, when CBA’s meteoric rise started, its share price rise relative to the S&P/ASX 200 Index was +43% compared to ANZ -2.5%, NAB +9.3% and WBC +25%. This has implications for superfunds which must perform in line with market weighted indexes over 2 years or close to new business.

I explore this issue further in this week’s Blog Insight which you can access HERE
You can read a recent CIO interview in the Australian Financial Review HERE
Learn more about government performance tracking with the APRA item HERE

On 30 July 2025 the Australian Bureau of Statistics(ABS) released it’s penultimate Quarterly release of Consumer Price Index measure of inflation (to 30 June 2025). The October release (for September Quarter) will be the last Quarterly release of CPI. Monthly index values will commence from the 31 October 2025 Index.

The change is being seen as a step towards catching up with other OECD countries, which have had monthly statistics for some time, and also providing the Reserve Bank of Australia with more timely information on inflation to assist them in interest rate decisions. The above Chart indicates the difference in Monthly and Quarterly release of CPI data using UK CPI indices.

You can read more about the ABS background on this change HERE
You can read my more detailed Blog Insight HERE
You can read about the RBA history of Inflation Tagetting HERE