Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Unemployment rates will continue to rise in 2020 Annual GDP growth in Australia has probably bottomed out already but we expect growth to remain below potential in 2020. As such, jobs growth will probably not be strong enough to absorb the expansion... 19th December 2019 · 10 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia - Labour Market (Nov.) The renewed drop in the unemployment rate in November reduces the pressure on the RBA to cut interest rates but we still expect the labour market to soften further. 19th December 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand - GDP (Q3) The rebound in GDP growth in New Zealand in the third quarter is unlikely to be sustained as soft consumer and business confidence limit the pick-up in growth. 19th December 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Government remains reluctant to loosen fiscal policy Australia’s government pledged to increase spending in today’s Budget update. And its pessimistic forecasts for nominal GDP growth suggest that tax revenue may continue to surprise on the upside... 16th December 2019 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Stimulus failing to boost confidence Business confidence should pick up before long as the global economy has turned the corner. Even so, we expect GDP growth to fall short of its potential over the coming year, which underpins our... 13th December 2019 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Australian economy is not ‘back on track’ Australia’s economy may be past the worst but we still expect GDP growth to fall short of potential over the coming year. That means that unemployment will probably rise further, putting downward... 6th December 2019 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - Stable financial system allows RBNZ to cut rates The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to leave mortgage lending restrictions unchanged and tighten capital requirements means that lending and house prices are unlikely to surge in 2020. As such... 5th December 2019 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia - Retail Sales & International Trade (Oct.) The stagnation in retail sales in October suggests that consumption growth remained sluggish in the fourth quarter. And while net exports should continue to support GDP growth, the weakness in... 5th December 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response GDP (Q3) GDP growth fell short of expectations in the third quarter and we think it will remain much weaker than most anticipate. As such, we reiterate our view that the RBA will cut interest rates in February... 4th December 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA will have to ease policy further The RBA turned more optimistic when it kept rates unchanged today but we think that further stimulus will be required before long. We reiterate our long-held view that the Bank will cut rates to 0.25%... 3rd December 2019 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response CoreLogic House Prices (Nov.) Our sales to new listings ratio suggests that house price growth will moderate before long. Even so given the sharp increase in recent months, we now expect prices to rise by around 7% in 2020 and 5%... 2nd December 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Two cuts by the RBA won’t be enough The Governor of the RBA in a speech this week confirmed that the floor for interest rates is 0.25%. While that announcement came as a surprise to some analysts, it was in line with our own thinking... 29th November 2019 · 8 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Private Capex Survey (Q3) The renewed decline in machinery and equipment investment in the third quarter is consistent with the sharpest quarterly fall in private investment in three years. And we expect private investment to... 28th November 2019 · 2 mins read
RBA Watch RBA should reach the rate floor & begin QE in 2020 The economic data have continued to deteriorate in line with our forecasts. In particular, the unemployment rate rose again to 5.3% in October and real retail sales declined in Q3 despite the... 27th November 2019 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Focus Productivity growth should pick up again soon The recent weakness in productivity is largely cyclical and reflects the slump in homebuilding. While Australia probably won’t be a frontrunner in the digital revolution, we expect labour productivity... 25th November 2019 · 13 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Government flipflops on fiscal stimulus The government has flipped on its stance that the previous tax cuts were sufficient to stimulate that economy, announcing fresh fiscal stimulus in the form of infrastructure spending this week. But at... 22nd November 2019 · 5 mins read
