Farhan Badami, Market Analyst at eToro Group Ltd, shares his three things to watch in Australia in the coming days.
CPI y/y
The latest Consumer Price Index figures will be released this Wednesday. Frankly, no one will be looking too closely for hints ahead of the RBA’s next policy meeting. One more rate cut before the year’s end is entirely out of the question now, so speculation among analysts is almost nonexistent.
What does make this data drop interesting is that it’s the first release in line with the RBA’s efforts to transition from the quarterly CPI to a complete monthly measure of the CPI.
Traditionally, the RBA have prioritised quarterly readings as the ‘true’ indicator of economic health, using that more overarching measure as the key resource when weighing up rate calls. The new approach ensures our approach to analysing inflation will be more in line with other G20 countries.
However, it does raise questions around the traditional approach, given the cost-of-living squeeze and high interest rates that Aussies have endured in recent years and RBA chair Bullock’s repeated insistence that prioritising quarterly insights enables better monetary policy.
For those wondering whether this new approach will make it any easier for the RBA to solve the stickiness of present inflation, unfortunately, the answer is probably no.
Alibaba earnings
Chinese retailer and e-commerce behemoth Alibaba will drop its Q2 FY26 results on Tuesday. While it’s been a rough month for the share price, shares overall are still up over 130%YTD, emphasising its strong appeal.
I think what makes Alibaba particularly appealing is that it’s a household brand that provides a tangible service, that also has one foot in AI and cloud services. This means its tangible business value and future value proposition is pretty clear and understandable for even inexperienced retail investors.
In Australia, Alibaba was the 11th most held stock on the eToro platform in Q3 – granted, that’s just outside the top 10, but with the Magnificent Seven still the stalwarts, that’s a significant ranking for a business largely focused on selling retail products within China’s softening consumer market.
That does mean that the pressure is on to show returns in AI and cloud computing, something that will be difficult given there is increased scrutiny around the potential that AI is in a ‘bubble’. That’s hard as it is, but we also know the company has increased its spending over the last quarter, meaning investors may read the bottom line as an underwhelming quarter. Ahead of the Christmas rush, however, there are still plenty of reasons for investors to opt to hold the stock, even if we do see a mild dip come Tuesday.
Crypto crunch
Bitcoin experienced a sharp downturn last week, dropping from its mid-November highs in a broad crypto sell-off that erased all 2025 gains and wiped nearly $800 billion from total market value. The move was largely driven by liquidation cascades, profit-taking, and lingering uncertainty around the Federal Reserve’s rate-cut trajectory.
A rebound was always likely following such an aggressive flush, and the weekend delivered exactly that. BTC recovered roughly 5%, closing around $87,400 on Sunday before easing slightly to $86,900 early Monday amid thin holiday trading volumes.
Looking ahead, attention turns to potential SEC decisions on Solana (SOL) and XRP spot ETF applications. Any approvals could trigger meaningful altcoin upside and help stabilise broader market sentiment after last week’s volatility.