Filtered by Subscriptions: Australia & New Zealand Economics Use setting Australia & New Zealand Economics
The rapid improvement in the budget deficit provides the Coalition government with some scope to announce additional tax cuts or higher spending while maintaining its forecast of budget surpluses over the coming year. Meanwhile, we think that 10-year bond …
29th March 2019
The Australian and New Zealand economies both appear to be running out of steam with growth slowing sharply in the second half of 2018. And we think the outlook is set to deteriorate further. Annual GDP growth in Australia may plunge as low as 1.5% in …
28th March 2019
We believe that GDP growth in Australia will fall well below potential this year as the housing downturn bites. That means that unemployment will soon start to rise again and underlying inflation will remain well below the lower end of the Reserve Bank of …
27th March 2019
The RBNZ took a surprising dovish turn when it left the official cash rate on hold at 1.75% today, indicating that the next move is likely down. Given that we are more downbeat about the outlook for GDP growth than the Ban, we think the Bank is likely to …
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will welcome the continued tightening of the labour market when it leaves rates unchanged at 1.50% at its policy meeting on Tuesday 2nd April. But we’ve become even more concerned about the outlook for economic activity …
26th March 2019
We now believe GDP growth will slow to 1.5% in 2019, which would be well below the analyst consensus of around 2.5%. And we suspect that the recent uptick in the unemployment rate in New South Wales and Victoria will be followed by rising unemployment …
22nd March 2019
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will retain its neutral stance when it keeps rates on hold at its meeting on Wednesday the 27th March 2019. The softening in GDP growth in the second half of 2019 will have come as a disappointment to the Bank. But …
21st March 2019
The fall in the unemployment rate to an eight-year low in February will give the Reserve Bank of Australia renewed confidence in its forecast that the labour market will continue to tighten. By contrast, our more pessimistic outlook for GDP growth …
We think that the slowdown in annual growth in the fourth quarter will set the tone for growth to remain subdued throughout 2019. But as long as the labour market remains tight and underlying inflation continues to firm up the RBNZ shouldn’t be too …
20th March 2019
We believe that the downturn in the housing market will have a larger negative impact on the economy than most believe and have lowered our GDP forecast for 2019 to 1.5%. The upshot is that the labour market should start to slacken soon, forcing the RBA …
The continued decline in business confidence in February suggests that the falls in business investment will persist into 2019. And the deterioration in consumer confidence may motivate households to increase their savings, which will weigh on consumption …
15th March 2019
Irrespective of the incoming government’s planned policy, the deterioration in the economic outlook means that fiscal policy should become stimulatory to avoid exacerbating the downturn. … New government can’t ignore the weaker …
14th March 2019
The RBA appears to be confident that the labour market will continue to support growth. But this week’s disappointing GDP data suggests that the economic outlook will remain subdued for some time. If we are right, conditions in the labour market may soon …
8th March 2019
The soft growth in retail sales in January means that weakness in consumption at the end of 2018 probably continued into 2019. Meanwhile, net trade may not support GDP as much as implied by the large trade surplus, as it was driven, at least in part, by …
7th March 2019
Subdued GDP growth in final quarter of 2018 sets the tone for softer growth this year. And given that the RBA has already adopted a neutral stance, we now suspect it may cut rates as soon as August. … GDP …
6th March 2019
The RBA remained fairly confident when it left rates on hold today at 1.50% but we expect that as the data deteriorate this year the Bank will take a more dovish view. And before the end of the year the RBA will have to cut rates to stimulate the economy. …
5th March 2019
Data on investment spending released this week sent conflicting messages. We put more weight on the dismal construction work done figures and have penciled in falling business investment in the fourth quarter. And we think investment is probably going to …
1st March 2019
House prices in the eight capital cities have now fallen 8.9% from their peak making the current downturn the largest in Australia’s modern history, and we expect prices to fall by at least another 6%. … CoreLogic House Prices …
While the private capital expenditure survey showed a rise in capital spending in Q4, we think that private investment spending actually fell. And given the recent deterioration in business confidence, we expect business investment to decline further in …
28th February 2019
While business confidence in New Zealand seems to be recovering from the slump after 2017’s election, it has weakened in Australia. (See Chart.) That deterioration can partly be explained by softer conditions elsewhere. But the largest drop in sentiment …
27th February 2019
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will almost certainly leave interest rates unchanged at 1.50% at its policy meeting on Tuesday 5th March. While the Bank should reiterate its view that inflationary pressures will continue to strengthen, our view is …
26th February 2019
Labour market conditions in Australia remain a bright spot for now. But we suspect that the housing downturn, weaker business confidence and a global slowdown will all weigh on employment growth and result in a rise in the unemployment rate in 2019. … The …
22nd February 2019
The rise in auction clearing rates in early February is probably just temporary. Housing remains overvalued and other leading indicators point to a continued decline in house prices. We therefore still think the housing downturn has further to run. … The …
21st February 2019
The strong rise in employment combined with a stable unemployment rate should give the RBA some confidence in its optimistic forecasts, but we think the labour market will worsen again soon. … Labour Market …
Broadly unchanged wage growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 suggests that the unemployment rate remains above the natural rate. We think the unemployment rate may actually rise this year meaning wage growth is unlikely to pick-up from here. … Wage Price …
20th February 2019
Weak business sentiment in Australia is likely to be another drag on private investment in 2019. And given the role the housing downturn is playing in sentiment, we expect things to get worse before they get better. In New Zealand, the RBNZ has followed …
15th February 2019
We think the explicit neutral stance adopted by the RBNZ in today’s policy meeting is appropriate as we suspect that the economy will not gain enough momentum to support interest rate hikes until 2021. … New Zealand - RBNZ gets more realistic by taking a …
13th February 2019
The relatively small bounce-back in business conditions in January suggests that the collapse in December was more than a blip. The recent deterioration in sentiment is likely to mean that business investment did not recover in Q4 of 2018 and may remain …
12th February 2019
The RBA changed tact this week and shifted away from its long-held tightening bias to a neutral stance on interest rates. This move was accompanied by a new set of downgraded economic forecasts, which project that headline inflation will not return to …
8th February 2019
The Bank will be weighing up the impact of a tighter labour market but weaker GDP growth when it leaves interest rates at 1.75% on Wednesday. It’s unlikely that any of the recent data will cause the RBNZ to change their forecasts for interest rate hike in …
7th February 2019
The bounce in the unemployment rate in Q4 was expected and the RBNZ has previously stated that this level of slack in the labour market is consistent with employment around its maximum sustainable level, so we doubt they will be concerned. What’s more, …
6th February 2019
Although the RBA took a more dovish tone when it left rates on hold today we think it will need to consider cutting rates before long as the economic outlook deteriorates. While the RBA still sees growth in 2019 of around 3% we are much less optimistic …
5th February 2019
Household spending appears to easing and will probably continue to do so as the outlook deteriorates in 2019. Meanwhile, net trade may turn into a drag on GDP growth in the fourth quarter. … Retail Sales & International Trade …
The final report by the Royal Commission may add to the changes in bank behaviour that are already underway. However, the report did not recommend much that is likely to cause an upheaval for the finance industry. We therefore expect credit growth to …
4th February 2019
The RBA will probably continue to signal that the next move in rates is up at Tuesday’s meeting. But with mounting signs that the housing downturn is spreading to other parts of the economy and price pressures abating, we think the Bank will have to cut …
1st February 2019
House prices have now fallen 7.6% from their peak and the pace of declines in recent months leads us to believe prices may now fall 15% from peak to trough. We believe such a large downturn would drive an easing in GDP growth and means that the RBA may …
Slower growth in China won’t immediately restrain Australia’s exports. But by lowering commodity prices, it makes investment in new mining projects less profitable and means that the mining investment slump may have further to run. … What does slower …
31st January 2019
The RBA will probably reduce its GDP growth forecasts at next week’s meeting but should still signal that the next move in rates will be up. Our more pessimistic outlook for economic activity, the labour market and inflation suggest that the Bank may …
30th January 2019
Inflation remained below the lower end of the RBA’s target range in the fourth quarter and we think it won’t rise within the target band any time soon. And if GDP growth slows as sharply as we anticipate, that means the RBA may soon have to consider …
A renewed increase in public support for first-time home buyers would probably result in a rebound in home sales and house prices. But with federal elections due by May, any step-up in government handouts is unlikely to occur before the middle of the …
28th January 2019
The downturn in the housing market means that the recent stability of the unemployment rate probably won’t last. We expect jobs growth to slow to 1% next year and the unemployment rate to creep up to 5.5% which should keep a lid on wages growth. …
25th January 2019
The decent rise in employment in December shows that the housing downturn isn’t having a major impact on the labour market yet. But we expect domestic demand to slow sharply this year so jobs growth should continue to weaken and the unemployment rate may …
24th January 2019
Our New Zealand Activity Proxy (NZAP) suggests economic activity remains soft and that the slowing in GDP growth has further to run. That supports our view that GDP growth will weaken from 2.8% in 2018 to 2.2% in 2019. … New Zealand - Activity proxy still …
23rd January 2019
While inflation remained just below target in Q4, it will probably fall further over coming months as the full impact of the recent drop in the oil price has yet to be felt. However, the RBNZ won’t be too concerned as underlying inflation should continue …
22nd January 2019
We believe that the downturn in Australia’s housing market will become by far the deepest and longest on record. By curbing dwellings investment, consumption and bank lending, we think it will result in GDP growth slowing from close to 3% last year to 2% …
Australia’s housing downturn is deepening. Prices will probably fall by more than we had previously anticipated and the drag from falling dwellings investment will be larger. The experience from housing downturns in other advanced economies is that …
18th January 2019
We think that 2019 will be the year in which previous excesses in Australia’s housing market will catch up with the economy. We believe that the deepening housing downturn will become a far bigger drag on Australia’s GDP growth than most anticipate. …
17th January 2019
While the recent falls in oil prices may boost consumer spending, they render investment in new LNG projects less attractive and may therefore restrain mining investment. Meanwhile, the slump in building approvals will restrain dwellings investment. But …
11th January 2019
While the solid rise in retail sales values in November suggests that households are still coping well with falling house prices and sluggish incomes gains, we think that consumption growth will slow this year. … Retail Sales …
The recent declines in petrol prices may boost consumer spending by around 0.6 percentage points in the first half of 2019. But we suspect that this impact won’t be enough to prevent consumption growth from slowing from 2.6% in 2018 to 2.0% this year. … …
9th January 2019
