The RBA’s predictions are so dire it’s no wonder people are less confident than they were when the pandemic hit

Australian consumers are now less confident than they were in April 2020, when every shop was shut, there was no vaccine and Covid deaths were soaring overseas. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

A funny thing happened last week when the governor of the Reserve Bank said the board expected a plural number of rate rises to come: people believed it.

Before last week’s Reserve Bank board meeting, the market predicted the cash rate would peak at 3.6%. The day after the market locked in a peak of 3.85%. A week later the peak is now expected to be 4.1%: