by Stephen Roberts | 4 Jun, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
No surprise from the RBA today, they left the cash rate at 2.75% as widely expected. The accompanying statement was one of the briefest in recent months and indicated that earlier rate cuts and the now very expansionary policy setting are contributing to a lift in...
by Stephen Roberts | 3 Jun, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
Retail sales rose in April by 0.2% mom, just shy of market expectations (+0.3%) and after a revised 0.4% fall in March. By category, the stronger elements of the retail sales report were clothing and footwear stores, +1.8% mom; food retailers +0.5%; and restaurants...
by Stephen Roberts | 3 Jun, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
Risk assets, including credit, were stronger through the first half of May, before suffering a sharp pullback later in the month. The early month strength was assisted by official interest rate reductions in several countries and most notably Australia where the...
by Stephen Roberts | 30 May, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
Q1 capex was weaker than expected, down by 4.7% qoq with mining capex down 6.2% qoq. Capex will detract about 0.6 pp from Q1 GDP, but there are other strong offsets from Q1 retail sales 0.6 pp and net exports 1.0pp. Q1 GDP ( out next Wednesday) is travelling around...
by Stephen Roberts | 27 May, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
Mostly falling equity markets over the past week excited much market commentary about weaker global growth prospects. We expect softer sentiment in risk asset markets and fears about weaker global growth to be comparatively short-lived. The main reason why we expect a...
by Stephen Roberts | 27 May, 2013 | Economics, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The Q1 private new capital expenditure (capex) and April home building approvals readings are out on Thursday 30th May at 11.30am. The Q1 capex report provides past information about business investment spending – mining investment spending is of particular interest –...
