Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia GDP (Q2) The return of the Australian economy in the second quarter to the growth rates seen before the end of the mining boom relieves some of the pressure on the RBA to cut interest rates again, at least in... 7th September 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Retail Sales (Jul.) July’s weaker-than-expected retail sales figures mean that even if spending were to gather momentum in the remainder of the third quarter, real consumption growth will struggle to match the probable 0... 1st September 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Private Capital Expenditure Survey (Q2) The private capital expenditure survey for the second quarter shows that the investment transition is taking place slowly. Together with the stagnation in retail sales in July, we believe that GDP... 1st September 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Jul.) July’s labour market figures were much better than expected and forward looking indicators suggest the labour market should continue to remain healthy. However, given that part-time positions... 18th August 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand Labour Market (Q2) The delayed release of the second quarter labour market figures showed a surprise surge in employment growth. The unemployment rate also fell slightly, but we expect it to edge down only slowly this... 17th August 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Consumer Confidence (Aug.) While the modest rise in the Westpac measure of consumer confidence in August suggests that the effect of interest rate cuts on confidence may be weakening, the rise was still enough to suggest that... 10th August 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Retail Sales (Jun.) The weaker-than-expected rise in real retail sales in the second quarter points to a slowdown in consumption growth and adds to the mounting evidence that GDP growth weakened significantly, perhaps to... 4th August 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand Employment (Q2) The slimmed-down labour market release suggests that employment growth weakened a little in the second quarter. The RBNZ will be more worried, however, to see that there is still no sign of... 3rd August 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia International Trade & Building Approvals (Jun.) The weak outlook for inflation is enough on its own to prompt the RBA to cut interest rates to 1.5% at the policy meeting later today, but mounting evidence that economic growth lost a lot of momentum... 2nd August 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Consumer Prices (Q2) The CPI inflation data for the second quarter makes next Tuesday’s RBA policy meeting a closer call than had looked likely, but we still think the RBA will pull the trigger and cut interest rates to 1... 27th July 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand Consumer Prices (Q2) The weak tone of the CPI inflation data for the second quarter probably means that at Thursday’s unusual inter-meeting economic update the RBNZ will hint that it intends to use tighter lending... 18th July 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Jun.) Although the labour market is probably a bit weaker than June’s figures suggest, we’re not too concerned when the forward-looking indicators remain healthy. That said, the high share of part-time... 14th July 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Consumer Confidence (Jul.) Much like financial markets and businesses, the Westpac measure of consumer confidence in July suggests that households have been largely unaffected by the significant political uncertainty... 13th July 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Retail Sales & International Trade (May) Weaker-than-expected retail sales and international trade figures for May provide further evidence that GDP growth probably slowed sharply in the second quarter. This won’t be enough to persuade the... 5th July 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (May) May’s data suggest that the labour market is not too strong to prevent the Reserve Bank of Australia from cutting interest rates to 1.5% at its August meeting and not too weak to prompt it to become... 16th June 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand GDP (Q1) The rise in GDP in the first quarter doesn’t make the RBNZ any less likely to cut interest rates to 2.0% at the next policy meeting in August. And we believe that a combination of weaker GDP growth... 16th June 2016 · 1 min read
