Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves needs to raise her fiscal buffer fivefold to have a better-than-even chance of avoiding more tax rises and spending cuts in the coming years, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. 

Reeves may need to find as much as £22 billion ($29.4 billion) at the budget next month just to restore the razor-thin £9.9 billion margin she had in March, the influential think tank said in an report published Thursday. (BBG – Continue Reading) 

The Bank of Japan must keep monetary policy loose and move very gradually in raising interest rates as global trade uncertainty clouds the economic outlook, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Wednesday.

Japan's economy has performed better than expected so far this year on robust consumption and exports, with Tokyo's trade deal with Washington easing some uncertainty, said Nada Choueiri, deputy director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department. 

But risks to growth are skewed to the downside on lingering uncertainty over the fate of U.S.-China trade talks, and the possibility of a reversal in loose global financial conditions, she said. (RTRS – Continue Reading) 

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock characterized the country’s monetary policy as “marginally tight” and said that her job guiding interest rates isn’t finished.

“We don’t think policy is really restrictive at the moment and likewise we don’t think it is accommodative — I would say it is marginally tight,” she said at a forum in Washington on Wednesday. It’s “probably still a little on the tight side but not much,” Bullock added. (BBG – Continue Reading) 

Australia's unemployment rate spiked unexpectedly to a near four-year high in September as more people went looking for work, a weak result that adds to the case for more policy easing.

Investors ramped up bets for a rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia in November to 71%, from just 40% before the data. Hopes for more easing had faded as policymakers fret about sticky inflation and a revival in consumer spending. 

The Australian dollar fell 0.4% to $0.6488, while three-year bond futures rallied 10 ticks to 96.62. The heightened expectations of a rate cut pushed the local stock benchmark. (RTRS – Continue Reading)