Live updates: RBA interest rate decision imminent, WeWork files for ...

If you're a mortgage holder and trying to make sense of how much extra your repayments could be now the cash rate is 4.35%, we have a calculator to help figure it out.

If you plug in the size of your loan, term and interest rate, the calculator will tell you what your repayments might look like now.

If you don't have capacity to do it right now, no stress at all — you can access it using the link below and bookmark it for later.

Mr Chalmers continues, saying he knows today's decision by the RBA will hurt thousands of households around the country.

"This is a difficult day for people with a mortgage, we do understand that Australians are already under substantial pressure in their household budgets and this will tighten the screws further.

"That is why the highest priority of the Albanese Labor government is rolling out this cost-of-living relief which the ABS says is working, but also this responsible economic management, which the Reserve Bank governor, IMF, and others have acknowledged as well.

"The government is doing its bit to address the inflationary pressures in our economy, the independent Reserve Bank has taken this decision today in the interests of this fight against inflation.

"What we're doing as a government and what the Reserve Bank is doing is independent, but it's all about trying to make sure that we can get on top of this inflation challenge in our economy, which is hurting our people and our economy more broadly."

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking now after the RBA's decision, here's some of what he's had to say:

"This afternoon, the independent Reserve Bank has increased interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.35%. This will make life harder for people who are already doing it tough.

"Inflation has moderated in our economy since those peaks that we saw last year, and our economy has slowed. But inflation is still a feature of our economy and inflation has been persistent in recent months, as the Reserve Bank has identified.

"Now, the primary driver of inflation in the most recent data was petrol, but there are other inflationary pressures in our economy as well as the Reserve Bank is responding to that.

"We all want inflation to moderate further and faster. We have the same goals as the independent Reserve Bank but we have different jobs.

"The Reserve Bank's job is to address this inflationary challenge without crunching the economy, I am focused on my job, which is a distinct and complimentary job when it comes to fighting inflation."

If you've got questions about today's interest rates decision (or anything else economy-related) that you've been wanting to ask, now's your time to do so.

Our colleague, business reporter Gareth Hutchens is ready and waiting to help you make sense of what today's decision means for households, the economy, and where the RBA might go from here.

Send through your questions using the big blue button at the top of the blog, and they'll be answered shortly.

Here's some of the rationale from RBA governor Michele Bullock's statement:

Inflation in Australia has passed its peak but is still too high and is proving more persistent than expected a few months ago.

The latest reading on CPI inflation indicates that while goods price inflation has eased further, the prices of many services are continuing to rise briskly.

While the central forecast is for CPI inflation to continue to decline, progress looks to be slower than earlier expected.

CPI inflation is now expected to be around 3.5 per cent by the end of 2024 and at the top of the target range of 2 to 3 per cent by the end of 2025.

The Board judged an increase in interest rates was warranted today to be more assured that inflation would return to target in a reasonable timeframe.

Ms Bullock also said the RBA may need to increase rates further, however "whether further tightening of monetary policy is required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe will depend upon the data and the evolving assessment of risks."

The RBA has lifted the cash rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.35% at its November meeting.

It's the 13th rate rise in 19 months, and means the cash rate is now the highest it's been since November 2011.

For more, my colleague Michael Janda has you covered:

If you're just joining us and need a quick cash rate refresher, we've got you covered.

Right now, the cash rate is 4.1% — the highest it's been since April 2012.

The cash rate has also been on hold at that level since June, so it would be the first time in four months that the RBA's increased rates (if that's what it's decided to do).

More of a visual learner? No worries — here's the history of the cash rate from 1990 until now.

We're less than 10 minutes away from finding out what the RBA decided to do with the cash rate at its meeting earlier today.

David and I will bring you the latest right here on the blog — but we also have live coverage on the ABC News Channel, complete with expert commentary and analysis, which you can watch below:

(Alternatively, there's a dedicated stream of the ABC's News Channel at the very top of the blog.)

All four of the major banks are tipping a rate hike by the RBA today — but what's behind their thinking?

Luci Ellis, who was an assistant governor with the RBA until taking up the job with Westpac, says the central bank is having to consider whether it's comfortable with inflation taking longer than it expected to come back down.

"Inflation simply isn't coming down as quickly as the Reserve Bank thought, so they've had to do a little bit more, or at least we expect they will," she told 7.30.

"As long as we keep getting upside surprises on inflation, they will be asking themselves the question about how much more they need to do."

Given how resolute the markets are when it comes to a hike today, Ms Ellis said it could prove a challenge for the RBA if they decide to pause.

"I think the fact that markets are expecting it so strongly, does make it difficult for communication if they were to hold rates," she said.

"They would have to have a very clear explanation about how they think inflation is still going to get back into their 2 to 3% target range by mid-2025."

Even with RBA governor Michele Bullock telling a conference last month that the central bank wouldn't hesitate to raise rates if there was a "material" change to inflation — before inflation came in hotter than the RBA's forecasts — Ms Ellis said the devil was in the detail.

"I think everybody's entitled to interpret the data as they would like. There could be an argument that it's not material, certainly our team was expecting something only a little below what actually happened, but the detail of the data didn't look good," she said.

"There are a number of areas where inflation pressures are still much stronger than the Reserve Bank would like and realistically, it's hard to say that it's immaterial, given where they were three months ago."

Australia's resilient property market, seen with higher property prices, are also challenging.

"It's not what you'd expect, given the movements in interest rates," Ms Ellis said.

"But population pressures, and the fact that household size declined during the COVID period, and is yet to reverse that out.

"These things seemed to have added enough to demand that both rents and prices are really increasing rapidly at the moment."

The RBA board met this morning, but will release its monetary policy decision at 2:30pm AEDT.

That's in about 35 minutes — so if you need that afternoon tea or coffee (or pre-emptive Melbourne Cup glass of sparkling), now's the time to go grab it.

(Just promise me you'll be more careful than this, OK?)

WeWork, the SoftBank Group-backed startup whose meteoric rise and fall reshaped the office sector globally, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.

The move represents an admission by SoftBank, the Japanese technology group that owns about 60% of WeWork and has invested billions of dollars in its turnaround, that the company cannot survive unless it renegotiates its pricey leases in bankruptcy.

Profitability has remained elusive as WeWork grapples with its expensive leases and corporate clients cancelling because some employees work from home. Paying for space consumed 74% of WeWork's revenue in the second quarter of 2023.

The company reported estimated assets and liabilities ranging from $US10 billion to $US50 billion, according to a bankruptcy filing.

"WeWork could use provisions of the US bankruptcy code to rid itself of onerous leases," law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP said in a note to landlords on its website in August. Some landlords are bracing for a significant impact.

Under its founder Adam Neumann, WeWork grew to be the most valuable US startup, worth $US47 billion.

It attracted investments from bluechip investors, including SoftBank and venture capital firm Benchmark, as well as the backing of major Wall Street Banks, including JPMorgan Chase.

Just last week, a source told the Wall Street Journal the company was planning to file for bankruptcy.

WeWork has around a dozen offices around Australia, but has been gradually closing them, with its Brisbane CBD office wound down last month.

In 2021, the financial embattled company managed to amend 590 leases, saving about $US12.7 billion in fixed lease payments. But it wasn't enough to compensate for the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept office workers at home, and many of its landlords had little incentive to give them a break on their lease terms.

While WeWork had some success in signing up large conglomerates as clients, many of its customers were startups and smaller businesses, which cut their spending as inflation soared and economic prospects soured.

—with Reuters

It's been a very cautious day on the Australian share market as investors await the outcome of the Reserve Bank's latest board meeting, which may result in another interest rate hike.

The ASX 200 index was down 0.4% to 6,970 points by 12:45pm AEDT (after rising for five straight days).

Globally, investors are also eyeing upcoming policy speeches by at least nine US Federal Reserve members during the week, including its chair Jerome Powell on November 9, for further clues on the Fed's monetary policy.

Shares in Origin Energy rose 0.8%, after a proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended investors to vote in favour of a Brookfield-led consortium's $10.5 billion bid for the power producer.

Westpac shares fell 2.8%, effectively wiping out most of yesterday's gains.

It comes a day after Westpac announced a $1.5 billion share buyback, and reported that its annual profit jumped 26% to $7.2 billion.

Origin Energy is at the centre of a struggle (between major Australian and Canadian investment funds) which will determine who controls the company's future.

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended investors vote in favour of a Brookfield-led consortium's $10.5 billion takeover bid for Origin Energy.

The offer has been rejected by pension fund AustralianSuper, which is Origin's largest shareholder.

Toronto-based Brookfield and Sydney-headquartered EIG Partners has offered $9.53 per share for Origin Energy.

Shareholders are due to vote on the bid on November 23.

75% of votes must be cast in favour of the offer for it to be approved.

"The transaction offers shareholders a cash exit at a premium in exchange for surrendering the payoff of a potential successful energy transition for the company," the ISS report said.

AustralianSuper (which holds a 15.03% stake) has said it believes the consortium's bid substantially "undervalues" Origin and will vote against the offer.

Brookfield will take ownership of Origin's energy markets business if the vote is in favour of the bid, while EIG's MidOcean Energy will gain a 27.5% stake in Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG).

If the shareholder vote fails, the Brookfield-led consortium said last week it has a back-up plan for an off-market takeover that would require the minimum acceptance of 50.1% of the register and give it control of Origin's board.

In that scenario, EIG will own Origin and sell the energy markets business to Brookfield, meaning remaining shareholders, including AustralianSuper, will own only APLNG.

We haven't even heard what the RBA's decision for the cash rate for November is yet, but already economists say it's "entirely possible" that there could be another rate hike in December.

Dr Emily Millane, a partner with Impact Economics, says even though it's "widely expected" among economists that the RBA will lift rates today, there could well be another rate hike in December.

"It is entirely possible that another rate rise could occur in the next month as well, which is obviously just before Christmas time for households and it'll put pressure on them," she said.

You can watch her full chat with Karina Carvalho on the ABC's News Channel below:

Two federal government ministers say they hope the RBA doesn't lift interest rates later today, but insist they're focused on trying to provide relief to households and not influence the central bank's decisions.

Economists and financial markets are predicting a hike later this afternoon, after the cash rate remained on hold at 4.1% since June.

Agriculture minister Murray Watt says as a mortgage borrower, he understands the pain many Australians are feeling.

"Of course, I think all Australians — especially those who have mortgages — would prefer their mortgage rates to be static," he told RN Breakfast.

"But we're not going to be interfering in what the Reserve Bank has got to do. They're an independent organisation.

"As a government, we're doing everything we possibly can to bring inflation under control, and thereby put some moderation around interest rates."

Meanwhile Bill Shorten says the federal government knows many Australians are struggling to make ends meet, and is doing what it can to help those cope with rising rates.

"I hope it [the cash rate] stays static, I'll be honest, but a lot of mortgage holders are doing it tough, but the bank will make its decision independently," he told News Breakfast.

"For the Albanese government, we know that inflation and cost of living [are] issues, that's why we put in a heap of measures from child care to parental leave to energy support."

The local share market has dropped slightly as investors remain cautious ahead of today's Reserve Bank decision.

The ASX 200 was down 0.2% by 11am AEDT.

Shares of Westpac are down 2.4%, a day after the bank reported a $7.2 billion annual profit.

Lithium stocks Allkem and Pilbara Minerals are some of today's worst performers, along with CSR, Bellevue Gold and Scentre Group.

On the flip side, healthcare stocks like Healius and Pro Medicus are leading the gains.

We won't know for sure what the RBA will do with interest rates until 2:30pm AEDT, but all of the big four banks are united in their thinking.

Here's what they're predicting the RBA to do this afternoon:

(For what it's worth, money markets have priced in a roughly 70% chance of a rate increase today.)