Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand Labour Market (Q4) The decent rise in employment in the fourth quarter and the fall in the unemployment rate to a decade low may go some way to calming the current fears in the financial markets. And the absence of... 6th February 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA hints it’s in no rush to raise rates The jitters in the financial markets are due to concerns that global interest rates will rise rapidly, but the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) did its part to calm fears by leaving interest rates at... 6th February 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Retail Sales & International Trade (Dec.) The fall in retail sales and the deterioration in the international trade balance in December probably won’t ease the current jitters in the financial markets, but the figures aren’t as bad as they... 6th February 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Slicing and dicing inflation Whichever way you look at it, there is very little evidence that the health of the economy is starting to boost inflation in Australia. Out of our six key charts that take a deep dive into the latest... 2nd February 2018 · 1 min read
RBNZ Watch New Zealand - Spencer to play it safe at his penultimate meeting The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will almost certainly leave the official cash rate on hold at 1.75% at its policy meeting on Thursday 8th February and, in the accompanying Monetary Policy... 1st February 2018 · 1 min read
RBA Watch Another year of record low rates Despite the strengthening of the activity data, the Reserve Bank of Australia won’t raise interest rates from 1.5% at the meeting on Tuesday 6th February and probably won’t hint in the following... 31st January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Consumer Prices (Q4) It is possible that price pressures are a little stronger than the CPI data for the fourth quarter suggest. But the main message is that inflation is still hovering just below the 2-3% target and it... 31st January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economic Outlook No rush to raise rates 2018 will be the first year this century that the Australian economy won’t benefit from either a mining or housing boom. In those circumstances, we doubt that GDP growth will rise above 2.5%. And... 28th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly TPP and the dazzling dollar The resurrection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership signals that Australia is open for business, but it won’t significantly boost economic growth. A weakening in the Australian dollar from the dazzling... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand Consumer Prices (Q4) For all the talk about how the incoming Governor will deal with employment being added to the RBNZ’s mandate, the latest data suggest he may spend most of his time wondering why inflation is so low. 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack 2017 ends with a bang The flow of economic data released in Australia and New Zealand in recent weeks has been encouraging and suggests that after slowing in the third quarter of 2017, both economies regained some momentum... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand Activity Proxy (Nov.) The further rise in our New Zealand Activity Proxy in November suggests that the economy regained some momentum at the end of last year. That said, the plunge in business confidence in November... 23rd January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Is the strong end to 2017 a sign of things to come? Economic figures released in recent weeks have been notably stronger than expected, suggesting that the Australian economy had plenty of momentum going into the start of this year. But we doubt this... 18th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Will jobs growth continue to soar in 2018? While the upbeat nature of business employment surveys suggests jobs growth should be fairly decent this year, the exceptionally strong pace of job creation in 2017 seems unlikely to be repeated. 14th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Rest of the world catches up with Australia 2018 may be the year that the Australian economy fails to grow at a much faster pace than the majority of its peers and its interest rate premium is wiped out. This may mean that 10-year bond yields... 12th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Retail Sales (Nov.) The much stronger than expected surge in retail sales values in November, alongside the decent rise in October, suggests that real consumption growth bounced back in the fourth quarter. It also... 11th January 2018 · 1 min read
