These days every word of every statement from the Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock is pored over in minute detail – as is every word uttered at her press conference after each Reserve Bank board meeting.
Desperate for signals about what the bank will do next, market economists examine every comma, every adjective, for a hidden meaning. It’s a bit like divination, the ancient practice of seeking meaning by examining the entrails (internal organs) of a sacrificed sheep or goat.
It’s an approach in which words are assumed to mean something different to what ordinary people think they mean. For example, one journalist at Tuesday’s post-meeting press conference asked Governor Bullock if the word “vigilant” in her statement meant a rate rise was coming.
