Floods take toll on corporate Australia

From

NAB Business Survey; PMI The NAB business confidence index fell from +6.2 to -2.7 in December – the weakest reading in 20 months. The business conditions index rose from +3.7

continue reading

Floods will have no impact on interest rates

From

Reserve Bank Board meeting The Reserve Bank Board has left the cash rate at 4.75 per cent at its first meeting for 2011. The next meeting is on March 1

continue reading

Home prices at 18-month lows

From

Home prices Capital city home prices rose by 0.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in December after falling by 0.1 per cent in November according to the RP Data-Rismark

continue reading

Flood levy proposed – but is it necessary?

From

Economic issues The Prime Minister has proposed a levy on higher-income Australians to assist in meeting the damage bill from the east coast floods. The levy will apply in 2011/12

continue reading

Why are Australian shares lagging? Will it continue?

From

Key points Australian shares have disappointingly underperformed traditional global shares over the last year on the back of monetary tightening, worries about a housing bubble, the strong $A and Chinese

continue reading

Wealth hits record highs; Debt slides again

From

Modellers’ Database: Wealth & debt Wealth is at record highs. Wealth held by Australians in property, shares and other assets hit record highs at the end of September. The latest

continue reading

Petrol pain; Tame business inflation

From

Producer price index; Weekly petrol price The broad measure of business inflation – the producer price index (PPI) – rose by just 0.1 per cent in the December quarter, well

continue reading

Sales strengthen as growth continues for retailers

From

CBA Business Spending index The Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI) was unchanged in trend terms in December after previously falling for twelve straight months. But the weakness remains narrowly

continue reading

Weekly market & economic update – 21 January 2011

From

Headline developments An acceleration in Chinese economic growth in the December quarter to an estimated annualised pace of around 12% along with ongoing inflation worries have reinforced the case for

continue reading

Consumer bonanza as import prices fall

From

Import & export prices Prices of imported goods slumped by 3.8 per cent in the December quarter, driven largely by the appreciation of the Australian dollar. Import prices are 1.0

continue reading