by Stephen Roberts | 16 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The indicators of Australian economic activity are diverging more distinctly of late between sharply improving forward looking indicators being business and consumer sentiment, housing finance commitments, the shape of the yield curve, share market performance and... by Stephen Roberts | 12 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The August labour force report was softer than expected with employment falling by 10,800 (consensus +10,000), a second consecutive monthly fall. In trend terms employment is falling slightly on a monthly basis. The unemployment rate rose one notch to 5.8% in line... by Stephen Roberts | 9 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The Reserve Bank (RBA) left the cash rate at 2.50% at its board meeting last week, a decision that was very widely expected. The statement accompanying the decision was brief, but was notable for removing a key sentence from statements after earlier policy meetings... by Stephen Roberts | 3 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
The RBA left the cash rate at 2.50% as widely expected. The accompanying statement was very brief and appears to have removed the easing bias. Earlier mentions that low inflation provides scope for lower rates are absent. There are references that interest rate... by Stephen Roberts | 2 Sep, 2013 | Economic Weekly, Laminar Economist Stephen Roberts
Risk assets were stronger mostly through the first half of August as earlier concern that the US Fed might start to taper its monthly bond-buying program from its mid-September policy meeting was allayed by mixed-strength US economic readings. The key July US non-farm...