Westpac Economics' weekly video update

Financial markets might not be happy about it, but the FOMC minutes continued to point to a likely September start to interest rate normalisation in the US. Many Committee members expect remaining slack to be eliminated in the near term, and core inflation is tending toward their 2.0% medium term target. Global developments are currently seen as risks to the outlook, not part of the FOMC's base case. Next week sees the release of the latest Westpac-MNI China consumer sentiment report as well as the Q2 construction work done and CAPEX releases for Australia.