Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock told the Senate Economics Legislation Committee that recent data and developments since May have not materially changed the central bank’s outlook. She said inflation is still expected to rise further in the near term, reinforcing the RBA’s view that price pressures remain too persistent to declare victory.
Bullock indicated that policymakers will continue to watch how the effects of higher interest rates and the recent energy price shock feed through the economy. She noted that after three cash rate increases, monetary policy is now positioned to respond to incoming data, while reiterating that inflation remains too high and must be brought back into line with the RBA’s mandate for price stability and full employment.
The governor also said there are already signs that tighter policy is beginning to slow parts of the economy, although the full impact of rate increases typically takes 1 to 2 years to work through. That lag means the central bank is likely to remain cautious as it assesses whether demand is cooling enough to ease inflation without causing unnecessary stress elsewhere.
Bullock pointed to softer housing market conditions in recent months, saying they partly reflect the effect of tighter monetary policy. The comments suggest the RBA believes some of the desired transmission is underway, even as it avoids signaling that the tightening cycle is complete.
In currency markets, the Australian dollar was little changed after the testimony. The AUD/USD pair was trading at 0.713, down 0.02% on the day. The modest move suggests investors viewed Bullock’s remarks as broadly consistent with the RBA’s recent messaging and did not see them as significantly altering the policy outlook.The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rescinded its long-standing no-deny policy, a rule that had barred the agency from settling enforcement cases if a defendant publicly disputed the regulator’s allegations. The move brings the CFTC closer to the approach recently adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and gives the agency greater discretion in resolving cases.
The policy, first introduced in 1998, was intended to preserve the credibility of settlements. The CFTC said the rule may instead have suggested the agency was trying to insulate itself from scrutiny. By removing it, the commission said it now has more flexibility in how it negotiates settlements and structures enforcement outcomes.
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said the revision aligns the agency with other federal regulators and reflects a broader reassessment of how enforcement agreements should be handled. The change does not mean the CFTC will abandon all settlement conditions. The agency said it will not enforce existing no-deny language, but it may still require certain defendants to admit specific facts or legal liability where appropriate.
The policy shift comes amid a wider rollback of crypto-related enforcement actions under the Trump administration. Regulators have been revisiting several cases brought during the Biden era, many of them involving digital-asset firms that argued the enforcement process was overly aggressive and constrained their ability to contest allegations publicly.
On Thursday, the CFTC sought to vacate its $5 million settlement with Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange, in a case Selig described as politically targeted. The move underscored the administration’s effort to reassess prior enforcement decisions and highlighted how closely the CFTC’s internal policy changes are tied to its broader stance on crypto oversight.
Former CFTC chair Tim Massad said the decision to unwind the Gemini settlement was highly unusual. The latest policy reversal suggests the agency is seeking to reset its enforcement framework while retaining room to pursue future cases with more tailored settlement terms.
