Real estate sentiment at 44-year low

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Consumer Confidence Consumer confidence: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute survey of consumer sentiment rose by 2.5 per cent to a 4-month high of 97.9 in September. The confidence index is down 4.4

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Australia no longer the cheapest: CommSec iPad/iPhone indexes

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Economic trends Is the Aussie dollar too strong? According to CommSec iPhone index Australia is now the 25th cheapest country in the world (of 57 nations) to buy an Apple iPhone

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Dividend bonanza: $26 billion to be paid out

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Economic and Financial market perspectives Cash payouts: Since the start of the financial year companies have paid out around $4 billion in dividends to shareholders. But dividend payouts really start to

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Record expansion moves into 27th year

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National accounts Record expansion: The economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the June quarter after rising by 0.3 per cent in the March quarter. Annual economic growth held at

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Record vehicle sales; Record rural exports

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Government Finance; Balance of Payments; Consumer Sentiment; Car sales Current Account: The broadest measure of the trade accounts – the current account – deteriorated in the June quarter (bigger deficit), with

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Confidence spikes: Now back above ‘average’

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Consumer sentiment; New home sales Consumer confidence: The weekly ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating rose by 3.9 per cent, lifting from a near 12-month low of 109.2 to 113.5 in

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Earnings season: Good, but not great

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Corporate Profit Reporting Season (preliminary figures) Each ‘earnings season’ or ‘profit-reporting season’ CommSec tracks all the earnings results of ASX 200 companies to obtain a comprehensive picture of the aggregate

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Best job growth in 12½ years; Wage winners

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Labour force; Average weekly earnings Employment rose for the 10th straight month, up by 27,900 in July after rising by 20,000 in June (previously reported as a rise of 14,000

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Wage growth set to lift from lows

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Wage price index Wage growth: The wage price index rose by 0.5 per cent in the June quarter to be up 1.9 per cent over the year. Annual underlying inflation

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Stronger Aussie dollar curbs trade surplus

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International trade; New car sales Trade surplus: The trade narrowed from $2,024 million to $856 million in June. The rolling 12-month surplus rose from $8.9 billion to $12.7 billion (biggest

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