What an interesting week this promises to be. The Reserve Bank meets tomorrow to decide if Aussie consumers have slowed down their spending enough that the cash rate can be kept on hold. Let’s hope you didn’t eat a cake this weekend.

What’s going on in the U.S.? Can you say Plunge Protection Team? The Fed is subsidising risk taking by continuing to lend generously at the discount window. It’s getting hard to keep up with the number of ways Ben Bernanke is lending to other banks, to investment banks, and to primary dealers.