Deloitte Access Economics forecasts Australia’s GDP growth will fall below 2% in both this financial year and the next, the first consecutive sub-2% outcome since the 1990-91 recession. It expects inflation to linger around 4% through 2026-27, with real wages contracting and unemployment rising from 4.4% to an average 4.9% next financial year before peaking at 5% the year after. The report also sees the cash rate potentially rising once more to 4.6% in August, even as markets have shifted to pricing in cuts within the period. Western Australia is projected to grow just 0.7% this financial year, the weakest pace nationally.

The Bank of Japan failed to defend what had been seen as a 162 yen-per-dollar “red line,” after the currency briefly slid to a 40-year low. The BOJ has used more than $A100 billion in foreign-exchange reserves to intervene, but structural interest-rate differentials continue to widen. The article warns that if Japan is forced into large-scale sales of the $US1.2 trillion in US Treasuries it holds, US yields could jump, dollar liquidity could tighten and global financial markets could be hit. The episode unfolded in the first week of July 2026, alongside a surge in the US fiscal deficit as federal debt nears $US40 trillion, creating a systemic liquidity risk.

A slower-than-expected pickup in the US manufacturing PMI, alongside easing expectations around the US-Iran war, pushed the 10-year Treasury yield down to 4.47% and helped gold rebound 1.1% to $US4,082.40 an ounce. Traders also bet the Strait of Hormuz could reopen, sending Brent crude down 1.9% to $US71.57 a barrel. AI chipmakers including NVIDIA and Micron fell sharply, described in the report as a technical pullback rather than a new fundamental catalyst.

Australia’s Albanese government launched the Solar Sharer scheme on July 1, 2026, requiring power retailers to provide customers with three hours of free electricity each day from 11am to 2pm. Retailers must keep prices in the rest of the day within regulated caps, but rates outside the free window have typically increased as a result. Several retailers have warned some households could end up with higher overall bills, particularly if they cannot significantly shift their electricity use. The mandatory reform applies in NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia, with Victoria set to start a similar scheme in October.

Australia’s federal government is preparing sweeping regulatory reforms that would require PwC, KPMG and other global firms to structurally separate their audit and consulting operations and restrict offering both services to the same client. The proposals also include a 400-partner cap, shorter audit tenures and stronger enforcement powers for ASIC. The overhaul follows KPMG’s recent confidential-data misuse scandal and PwC’s tax information leak, and is aimed at restoring trust in the sector.