Retail trade; Performance of Manufacturing; BOP
- Retail spending grew by 0.4 per cent in January – in line with the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator which was released two weeks ago. Over the past year retail trade lifted by just 1.8 per cent.
- Non-food retailing fell by 1.0 per cent in the month with annualised growth of just 0.3 per cent – marking the weakest growth rate in 26 months. Sales at smaller retailers fell by 1.6 per cent in February. In annual terms growth was just 0.2 per cent – a 10 month low.
- The Performance of Manufacturing index improved from 46.7 to 51.1 in February – marking the first expansion in the sector in six months. Key sub-indexes were mixed with new orders surging to seven month highs, while production, and employment contracted at a faster pace.
- The broad measure of Australia’s external position – the current account – deteriorated in the December quarter due to higher income payments. The deficit rose by $809 million to $7.3 billion.
- In calendar 2010 the current account deficit stood at 2.6 per cent of GDP – the smallest deficit in eight years.
- The terms of trade (ratio of export to import prices) hit a record high in the December quarter, courtesy of lower import prices. The services terms of trade soared 6.0 per cent to record highs. Overall CommSec expects that the economy grew by around 0.9 per cent in the December quarter.