RBA mulls over multi-speed economy

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The latest Reserve Bank minutes revealed that Board members remain generally optimistic about the medium term outlook, but in the near term the domestic economy seems to be facing some

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State of the states – state & territory performance report

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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

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning April 10 2011

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Upcoming economic and financial market events  The big picture One of the sleeper issues at present is population growth. The latest data showed that Australia’s population grew by 1.6 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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Investor Signposts Week Beginning December 5 2010

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The big picture Most people tend to regard the national accounts as just an update on economic growth. But the publication is far more comprehensive than that, covering indicators such

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Investor Signposts: Week Beginning October 31 2010

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The big picture Here’s a scary thought – 2010 is almost over, with just over two months to go to the end of the year. So it is opportune to

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Deflation reigns: Bonanza for consumers

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Consumer Prices There are more goods falling in price currently than at any time over the past decade. In the June quarter 33 items were cheaper than a year ago

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Inflation: Another beautiful set of numbers

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Consumer Price Index Australia’s main inflation measure – the consumer price index (CPI) – rose by 0.7 per cent in the September quarter, well below economist forecasts. The annual rate

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