The flow of economic data released in Australia and New Zealand in recent weeks has been encouraging and suggests that after slowing in the third quarter of 2017, both economies regained some momentum at the end of last year. In Australia retail sales leapt by 1.2% m/m in November, building approvals shot up by 11.7% m/m in November and the annual pace of employment growth reached a decade high in December. And in New Zealand building consents jumped by 10.7% m/m in November and electronic card transactions bounced back in the fourth quarter. That said, we are still concerned that 2018 won’t be a blockbuster for either economy.
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