Lending slides; Futures market bets on rate cut

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Lending finance; RBA Board minutes; New Car Sales Lending slumped in January. Total lending finance fell for the first time in the five months – down by 6.0 per cent

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House approvals slump to near 2-year lows

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Building Approvals; Trade; New Vehicle Sales The outlook for home builders is gloomy. Council approvals to build news homes slumped by 15.9 per cent in January. In annual terms approvals

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Car sales slide as buyer caution emerges

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New car sales Australian new car sales recorded a modest fall in January. Car sales fell by 1.9 per cent in January – marking the biggest monthly fall in six

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning February 6 2011

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The big picture China is now the second largest economy in the world. Australia ranks as 13th biggest. But Australia is regarded as an advanced economy whereas China is defined

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Tame inflation; Petrol pain ahead

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Weekly Petrol Price, Inflation gauge; Lending finance; New car sales Motorists need to prepare for higher petrol prices. The terminal gate or wholesale price of petrol leapt by over 2

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Encouraging pickup in car sales

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Car sales In December, 86,587 vehicles were sold, down by 2.4 per cent compared with a year ago. In seasonally adjusted terms CommSec estimates that sales rose by 1.5 per

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Depressed services sector; 4WD sales soar

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Latest economic data The services sector is going backwards. The Performance of Services index fell from 50.7 to 46.2 in November. Any reading below 50 suggests that the services sector

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Consumers display caution

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Dwelling starts at six-year Consumer sentiment; New car sales; Dwelling starts The Westpac/Melbourne Institute index of consumer confidence eased in the latest month. The index fell by 5.0 per cent

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