Dividends start flowing: $22 billion to be paid out

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Economic and Financial market perspectives Cash payouts: This week, dividends started flowing from those companies that reported early in the recent earnings (profit-reporting) season. Conservatively around $22 billion (or around

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Fluky winds for Aussie consumers

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Consumer Sentiment; Construction gauge Consumer confidence: The weekly ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating fell by 4.4 per cent in the past week from six-week highs. Construction gauge: The Performance of

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Record economic expansion continues

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National accounts Record expansion: The economy grew by 1.1 per cent in the December quarter after contracting 0.5 per cent in the September quarter. Annual economic growth lifted from 1.9

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Profits hit record highs. Petrol prices flatten

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Business Indicators; Weekly petrol price Profits up: Company operating profits rose by 20.1 per cent in the December quarter to record highs. Sales ease: Economy-wide sales rose by 0.6 per

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Reserve Bank & consumers fixated on petrol

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Reserve Bank Board minutes; Consumer confidence Reserve Bank Board minutes: The minutes from the February 7 Board meeting show that the Reserve Bank believes that wage and price inflation have

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Aussies spend up on clothes, take-away food

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Economic trends & issues The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released retail spending data for December on Monday. CommSec obtained detailed spending data from the ABS in nominal and real

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Petrol eases from 19-month highs; Best month for shares

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Weekly petrol price; Sharemarket perspective Retail petrol: According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average Australian price of unleaded petrol fell by 1.2 cents to 134.0 cents a

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Inflation becalmed; poised to lift only slowly

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Consumer price index Inflation: The Consumer Price Index – the main measure of inflation in Australia – rose by 0.5 per cent in the December quarter, below expectations for a

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Inflation expectations at a 4½-year high

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Consumer Confidence Consumer confidence: The ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating eased from four-month highs, falling by 1.9 per cent to 117.0 in the week to January 22. Confidence is up

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CommSec State of the States – January 2017

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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; business investment; unemployment; construction work

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