Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly GDP growth isn’t picking up The decline in capital goods imports over the past year suggests that business investment is set to fall further in the second half of the year . What's more, the fall in real retail sales in Q3 point... 8th November 2019 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA indicates further easing may be needed By signalling that inflation will remain below the lower end of its 2-3% target band for the foreseeable future, the RBA signalled that further easing is on the cards. Our view remains that the Bank... 8th November 2019 · 3 mins read
Global Markets Update What QE would mean for Australia’s financial assets Against a backdrop of stubbornly-low inflation and rising unemployment, we now think that the RBA will launch quantitative easing (QE) in 2020. Here, we consider the implications for Australia’s... 7th November 2019 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response International Trade (Sep.) Net trade probably didn’t bolster GDP growth in the third quarter which adds to the evidence that GDP growth slowed in Q3. And weaker capital goods imports suggest that the slump in business... 7th November 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA still has more work to do The RBA reiterated its view that the economy had reached a gentle turning point when it left rates unchanged today. However, we think that the Bank’s forecasts for GDP growth and the labour market... 5th November 2019 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Retail Sales (Sep./Q3) The decline in real retail sales in the third quarter suggests that consumption growth remained subdued. And with the bulk of the tax refunds already paid, the outlook for the fourth quarter isn’t... 4th November 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Strong goods inflation probably won’t last The resilience in Q3 inflation was driven by the strongest increase in goods prices in a decade. But with import price growth now slowing, we think that strength won’t last. Meanwhile, we’ve lifted... 1st November 2019 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response CoreLogic House Prices (Oct.) Our sales to new listings ratio suggests that house prices will continue to surge in the coming months before moderating in the new year. We expect prices to rise by 5% in 2020 and 2021. 1st November 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack IMF too optimistic on Australia and New Zealand In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF predicted Australia’s economy to expand by 1.7% in 2019 and by 2.3% in 2020. While the 2019 forecast is consistent with our own expectations, their... 31st October 2019 · 10 mins read
RBA Watch Quantitative easing more likely than not Falling unemployment and steady inflation will allow the Reserve Bank of Australia to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.75% at the meeting on Tuesday, 5th November. However, we expect the... 30th October 2019 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Consumer Prices (Q3) While inflation edged up in Q3 we think the weakness in economic activity will cause it to fall again before long, prompting further easing by the RBA. 30th October 2019 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Participation rate should continue to rise We estimate that the participation rate will rise by around 0.35ppt per annum over the next couple of years. That means that the economy needs to create around 300,000 additional jobs per annum to... 29th October 2019 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Lack of fiscal stimulus will force the RBA’s hand The new Secretary to the Treasury endorsed the government’s hands-off approach to fiscal policy this week. We suspect the Australian government could increase spending significantly to support the... 25th October 2019 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Fiscal stimulus urgently needed but unlikely We estimate that a fiscal stimulus equivalent to 1.5% of GDP would still be consistent with maintaining Australia’s AAA-rating. Unfortunately, fiscal policy probably won’t come to the rescue, leaving... 23rd October 2019 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Focus RBA to launch QE as inflation weakens further Underlying inflation was moored well below the lower end of the RBA’s 2-3% target band even as the housing market was booming and the labour market was tightening. With the unemployment rate set to... 21st October 2019 · 17 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA will eventually push the QE button The drop in the unemployment rate in September means that the RBA won’t cut interest rates in November. But we still expect the labour market and underlying inflation to weaken over the coming months... 18th October 2019 · 3 mins read