If you're just waking up, the Reserve Bank of Australia SHOCKED the entire world today .... just kidding.

The RBA left the official cash rate target unchanged at 2% as everyone expected

  • More here
  • And Mike followed up here

Some responses now from various analysts around the place. Any boldings are mine. Note there is a divergence of views here.

JPMorgan's Tom Kennedy:

  • If you try to find a dovish or hawkish tilt, you are probably grasping at straws because the statement was very similar to the one in September
  • We have the RBA on hold from here
  • It will come down to what happens in places like China and Japan and how their economy play out in next two to three quarters
  • We also have the domestic growth story. We think we will see an upturn in growth next year though very modest.

Paul Bloxham at HSBC:

  • Comfortably on hold, despite the Fed
  • If the RBA had been perturbed by the Federal Reserve's decision to hold steady on 17 September, or by the recent weaker indicators of Chinese growth, it certainly was not evident in today's commentary. We suspect that the RBA remains comfortable because the labour market is continuing to improve ... and the AUD is now at a level where it is helping to support growth.
  • Without a significant shock it seems hard to see the RBA cutting further before the end of this year
  • We expect the RBA to remain on hold in coming quarters

ANZ's Felicity Emmett:

  • Next year's growth could deteriorate as the boost from housing starts to fade, & impact of the lower AUD on services trade lessens
  • With the loss of those two key supports, growth is likely to be insufficient to prevent the unemployment rate rising from an already elevated rate - something we think the RBA would feel particularly uncomfortable about.
  • In the meantime the data is likely to look okay
  • RBA will be prompted to cut rates to support growth ... we continue to expect 25bp rate cuts at the February and May meetings next year

Annette Beacher at TD:

  • What was not widely expected was the Board defying market pricing for a shift towards a more dovish stance
  • Anyone looking for a November cut needed today's RBA Board statement to turn decisively dovish, if not actually include an explicit easing bias. To be clear: today's statement all-but rules out a November cut.
  • Next move is more likely lower rates than higher, though

Josh Williamson at Citi:

  • Policy statement the same as the previous version
  • We see the Q3 CPI data as key for the RBA given the dual mandate
  • The pass by the Fed at the September FOMC and last week's disappointing payrolls probably means the Fed will not begin lift-off this year
  • This would be a disappointment for the RBA given their strategy to achieve a further lowering of the AUD appeared to be based on the Fed tightening this year and this leading to a lower AUD to help the rebalancing of the economy

NAB's Ivan Colhuon:

  • RBA has not changed its view of the economy significantly
  • It would likely require a significant evolution of the outlook to see the RBA moving rates ... NAB's view that rates will remain unchanged at 2% for an extended period
  • What changes there were arguably reflected greater confidence in a continuing moderate expansion of Australian growth
  • the final "policy paragraph" has also been unchanged for the past three months ... suggests that while the Bank retains a mild easing bias, further easing is not currently under active consideration
  • NAB considers developments in the domestic economy as being constructive at the present time
  • In our Australian Markets Weekly yesterday, we listed six reasons why the RBA should not consider cutting rates further any time soon. Today's Statement supports this interpretation and leaves us comfortable with the view that the RBA will be comfortably on hold for an extended period absent some major negative overseas development

Westpac's Bill Evans:

  • Arguably the Governor's statement in October represents the fewest number of changes to the previous month's statement that we have ever seen. This may be a clear strategy to discourage markets from expecting any imminent change in policy.
  • In providing minimal wording changes the signal seems quite clear that it is unlikely that the Bank will see the need to substantially revise its growth forecasts and therefore need to further ease rates in November.
  • The key consistent themes around "softening conditions in China and east Asia"; "moderate expansion in the Australian economy"; "stronger growth of employment and a steady rate of unemployment over the past year"; "economy operating with a degree of spare capacity"; "inflation under control even with a lower exchange rate" were repeated in this statement.
  • As expected the wording around the Australian dollar was unchanged
  • The most important part of the statement is the closing paragraph which is repeated word for word from the September statement
  • It is our view that the Bank will not need to sufficiently change its growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016 that would necessitate further policy support. That would mean rates on hold in both 2015 and 2016. However, risks on rates remain to the downside particularly around the global outlook; the terms of trade; and the labour market.

CBA Michael Blythe:

  • RBA clearly haven't been too concerned about the recent global growth fears
  • RBA might have firmed up, just a little, their commentary about the Australian economy... presumably every indicator is pointing in the same direction.
  • No hints for a rate cut in November