Today’s labour force data from the ABS for July is a shocker. Jobs, which had been expected to rise by about 12,000, actually fell 300 (and June’s increase was revised lower to +14.9). The headline seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 6.4% (from 6.0% in June); the increase slightly mitigated …read more
As had been universally expected, the RBA have left the Cash Rate on hold at 2.5% at today’s meeting. The full statement (see here) is little changed from last month. There is still reference to a “strong expansion in housing construction”, the fact that “the Bank still expects growth to …read more
Todays’ release of the June Retail Trade data shows turnover at current prices up 0.6% (seasonally adjusted) for the month. While this is stronger than expected it is hard to get away from the reality that retail sales are extremely sluggish when we consider that, when adjusted for inflation, turnover in …read more
Today’s Cairns Post carries an article which starts with “Building approvals are booming”. Unfortunately for the Post the article then goes on to quote from sources which clearly indicate that approvals are not in fact “booming”. Consider the following quotes.. Rick Carr in the July’s HTW Cairns Watch (from which the article …read more
Data released overnight shows the US jobs market continuing to perform steadily (if less spectacularly than had been expected). Non-farm payrolls grew by 209,000 in July. Payrolls for both May and June were also revised up by a total of 15,000. The monthly average over the past 6 months now …read more
The release of the Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for the June quarter show a fall in import prices for the quarter keeping a tight lid on any inflationary pressures building. Total Final stage PPI fell by 0.1% over the quarter for a 2.3% rise on the year (down from +2.5% …read more
Today’s release of ABS Building Approvals data for June showed a surprise decline of 5% (seasonally adjusted) for a 16% increase over the year. Both houses and unit approvals fell. The less volatile Trend series showed a monthly fall of 1.1% for a year on year gain of 7.9%. Despite …read more
Overnight the Fed have announced that their tapering of bond buying will continue, with another $10bn per month knocked off the plans. The Fed will now be buying just $25bn per month with the policy set to come to an end (as planned) in October. The announcement was no surprise …read more
The Cost of Living Indexes released this morning by the ABS are designed to answer the question “By how much would after tax money incomes need to change to allow households to purchase the same quantity of consumer goods and services that they purchased in the base period?” They consider …read more
Following on from our post the other day, Gene Tunny over at Queensland Economy Watch has used our Conus Trend data to compare jobs growth in SEQ (Brisbane plus the Gold and Sunshine Coasts) with the Rest of QLD. What he finds clearly shows the sharp disparity between what has been …read more