Article list

Consumer confidence; Overseas arrivals; Credit cards Consumer confidence: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute survey of consumer sentiment index fell by 0.6 per cent to 100.7 in June after rising by 0.6 per cent to 101.3 in May. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey fell 1.4 per cent last week. Over June, the ANZ-Roy Morgan survey fell by […]

Economic perspectives Australia 25 years ago: Every generation believes they face tougher times than other generations. But the current economic times stack up surprisingly well compared with the past. We look back over the past 25 years. Recently, globalisation has caused inflation and wages to grow at far slower rates than in the past while […]

Detailed labour force; Consumer confidence Regional unemployment: Last week we highlighted where we could be doing better in reducing unemployment across different age groups. This week we focus on the regions. The regions with the highest unemployment rates are dominated by Queensland and Western Australia. The regions with the lowest jobless rates can be predominately […]

Monthly Financial Statements Budget: The Federal Budget is effectively balanced. In the twelve months to April 2019, the Budget deficit stood at $33 million (less than 0.1 per cent of GDP). Other surplus measures: Over the same 12-month period to April, the fiscal balance was in surplus by $4,846 million (0.2 per cent of GDP). […]

Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Index Economy-wide spending doesn’t appear to have been unduly affected through the election period. The Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI), rose by 0.5 per cent in trend terms in April, down only from the 0.6 per cent growth recorded over February and March. Spending growth remains above the 0.4 per […]

Petrol prices; Domestic air travel; Housing affordability Weekly Petrol Price: According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average price of unleaded petrol rose by 3.7 cents in the past week to a 6-month high of 152.8 cents a litre. Election aftermath: The CommSec assessment of the Federal Election result was published yesterday. Election […]

Economic perspective The ruling Liberal/National Party Coalition was returned to power in the Federal Election held on May 18. On the night of the election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed victory. Opposition Labor leader, Bill Shorten, conceded defeat. Bill Shorten also indicated that he wouldn’t re-contest the Labor leadership. At the time of writing, the […]

Weekly Petrol Prices; ANZ Job Ads; Monthly inflation gauge; China data Weekly Petrol Price: According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average price of unleaded petrol fell by 1.2 cents in the past week to 145.6 cents a litre. But the national average diesel petrol price rose by 0.5 cents a litre to […]

Economic perspective This report provides perspectives on the consumer price data. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the March quarter Consumer Price Index (CPI) on April 24. The figures showed no change in the CPI in the March quarter. The CPI was up 1.3 per cent over the year. Over the past five years […]

Overall Results How are Australia’s states and territories performing? Each quarter CommSec attempts to find out by analysing eight key indicators: economic growth; retail spending; equipment investment; unemployment; construction work done; population growth; housing finance and dwelling commencements. Just as the Reserve Bank uses long-term averages to determine the level of ‘normal’ interest rates; we […]