Economic Update

Consumer sentiment; Global economy; CBA Household spending intentions Consumer confidence: The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating rose by 1.0 point (0.9 per cent) to 108.3 – the highest reading since early December. But sentiment remains below both the average of 114.2 points held since 2014 and the longer term average of 113.1 points since […]

Petrol Prices Petrol prices: According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the weekly national average price of unleaded petrol rose by 6.4 cents to 154.4 cents a litre. After the rise of 5.9 cents in the prior week, petrol has recorded the biggest back-to-back gain in 10 months. The petrol figures have implications for retailers, […]

Chinese economic data Chinese economic growth: The Chinese economy grew at a 6.0 per cent annual rate in the year to December (forecast 6.0 per cent). Over 2019 the Chinese economy grew by 6.1 per cent – the slowest growth in 29 years. Chinese data (December): Retail sales rose at an 8.0 per cent annual […]

Consumer sentiment Consumer confidence: The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating rose by 1.1 points (1 per cent) to 107.3 – the first lift since early December. Sentiment remains below both the average of 114.2 points held since 2014 and the longer term average of 113.1 points since 1990. The consumer confidence figures have implications […]

Economic and financial perspectives Record expansion: Australia’s record economic expansion is now in its 29th year. Interest rates have fallen to fresh record lows; wages are growing near 2.2 per cent; underlying inflation is around 1.6 per cent; the jobless rate is 5.3 per cent. Good year for shares: Total returns on Australian shares (All […]