Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand Consumer Prices (Q1) The further strengthening in underlying price pressures in the first quarter has increased the chances that the RBNZ will raise interest rates earlier than we had been expecting. Both we and the RBNZ... 20th April 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Mar.) The huge leap in employment in March looks suspicious to us and we think the stagnation in the unemployment rate at a 14-month high of 5.9% is a better signal of the state of the labour market. That... 13th April 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Consumer Confidence (Apr.) The Westpac measure of consumer confidence nudged down only slightly in April, which is a welcome sight following the recent string of disappointingly weak data on household spending. That said... 12th April 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response International Trade (Feb.) The rebound in the trade surplus is mainly due to the reversal of the distortion caused by Chinese New Year that suppressed the surplus in January. But with commodity prices having started to edge... 4th April 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Retail Sales & Building Approvals (Feb.) The outright fall in retail sales values in February adds to growing evidence that real consumption growth probably eased in the first quarter, while the latest news on the housing market has remained... 3rd April 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response ABS House Prices (Q4) The acceleration in house price inflation in the fourth quarter of last year has undoubtedly continued into the start of this year and will remain a thorn in the side of the Reserve Bank of Australia... 21st March 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Feb.) The stronger than expected rise in the unemployment rate and the pick-up in the underutilisation rate, which is a broader measure of spare capacity, suggests that there is still plenty of slack in the... 16th March 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand GDP (Q4 2016) While GDP growth in the fourth quarter of last year was weaker than most had expected, this was largely the result of temporary factors and as such we expect growth in New Zealand to bounce back early... 15th March 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Consumer Confidence (Mar.) While the Westpac consumer confidence headline index held steady in March, the further weakening in confidence surrounding the housing market is consistent with an easing in house price inflation in... 15th March 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Retail Sales (Jan.) The 0.4% m/m rise in retail sales in January was a welcome sight following the outright fall in sales in December, but it doesn’t change the bigger picture that with wage growth likely to remain close... 6th March 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response International Trade (Jan.) The sharp drop in the trade surplus in January suggests that net exports will provide a sizeable drag on growth in the current quarter. And while rising consumption goods imports suggest that the... 2nd March 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia GDP (Q4) The decent rebound in real GDP in the fourth quarter doesn’t just dash any lingering fears that Australia was in a recession, but it also boosts hopes that the surge in commodity prices will trigger a... 1st March 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Private Capital Expenditure Survey (Q4) While there is some tentative evidence that non-mining business investment is rising, it certainly isn’t rising as fast as widely hoped. This doesn’t surprise us as we’ve been saying for a long time... 23rd February 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Jan.) January’s labour market figures highlight that jobs growth has sustained its recent momentum, but the now-familiar problem of the new jobs being mostly part-time ones rather than full-time ones also... 16th February 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Consumer Confidence (Feb.) The rebound in the Westpac measure of consumer confidence in February and the surge in the NAB measure of business confidence in January suggests that any lingering concerns over the outright fall in... 15th February 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Retail Sales (Dec.) The rise in real retail sales in the fourth quarter suggests that real consumption growth rebounded, but the outright fall in nominal sales in December reveals a worrying lack of momentum heading into... 6th February 2017 · 1 min read
