Horror spike: Rents, fuel, UberEats jumps derail RBA relief

The most crucial data to track for rate relief. Source. ANZ Research A horror mid-year inflation spike driven by petrol, rising rents and pricier takeaway food threatens to derail hopes of early rate relief – as the Big Four take the knife to savings rates. Fresh ANZ forecasting reveals headline inflation is expected to jump by 0.8 per cent for July, driven primarily by an anticipated 8 per cent surge at the petrol pump plus seasonal price hikes across domestic travel, clothing and takeaway dining. Homeowners expecting rate relief have seen seesawing predictions as a mass of conflicting data rolls in. While lower power bills are set to provide minor relief – with electricity prices expected to fall 2.5 per cent following the rollout of the federal government’s new default market offer on July 1 – the steep fuel spike is projected to wipe out those gains, pulling overall transport costs up by 2.5 per cent in a single month. More concerning for mortgage holders, ANZ predicts trimmed mean inflation – the Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred measure, which strips out extreme volatile price swings like fuel – will have jumped 0.34 per cent in July, keeping annual core inflation at a st...