Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly TPP and the dazzling dollar The resurrection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership signals that Australia is open for business, but it won’t significantly boost economic growth. A weakening in the Australian dollar from the dazzling... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack 2017 ends with a bang 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... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Is the strong end to 2017 a sign of things to come? Economic figures released in recent weeks have been notably stronger than expected, suggesting that the Australian economy had plenty of momentum going into the start of this year. But we doubt this... 18th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Dec.) The strong rise in employment in December rounded off an exceptional year for the labour market. Jobs growth is unlikely to be as strong this year, but the labour market will still make further... 18th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Consumer Confidence (Jan.) The further rise in the Westpac measure of consumer confidence in January adds to the recent run of encouraging news about the health of the household sector and suggests that the risks to our... 17th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Will jobs growth continue to soar in 2018? While the upbeat nature of business employment surveys suggests jobs growth should be fairly decent this year, the exceptionally strong pace of job creation in 2017 seems unlikely to be repeated. 14th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Rest of the world catches up with Australia 2018 may be the year that the Australian economy fails to grow at a much faster pace than the majority of its peers and its interest rate premium is wiped out. This may mean that 10-year bond yields... 12th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Retail Sales (Nov.) The much stronger than expected surge in retail sales values in November, alongside the decent rise in October, suggests that real consumption growth bounced back in the fourth quarter. It also... 11th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - Our key calls for 2018 and some possible shocks 2018 is widely expected to be the year that the Reserve Banks of Australia and New Zealand start to raise interest rates from their record lows. We disagree. In this Update, we outline five of our non... 9th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Financial stability concerns persist into 2018 Financial stability concerns were in the spotlight in Australia for much of 2017 and although actions by the RBA and APRA have gone some way to addressing these concerns, recent news that household... 5th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia International Trade (Nov.) The further widening in the international trade deficit in November suggests that after making a neutral contribution to GDP growth in the third quarter, the external sector was probably a drag on GDP... 5th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly The risks to our 2018 forecasts Our money is on the Australian economy growing by 2.5% next year rather than 3.0%, which would mean growth is weaker than most expect and interest rates are likely to stay at 1.5%. If things are worse... 21st December 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Households will continue to struggle After slowing sharply in the third quarter, there have been some encouraging signs in recent weeks about the prospects for real consumption growth in Australia in the fourth quarter. In particular... 20th December 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Fiscal update offers no Christmas gift for the economy The only gift the Treasurer handed out in today’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) was the one he gave himself, namely a stronger fiscal pot that will take a bit away from GDP growth next... 18th December 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Treasurer to save MYEFO windfall for future tax cuts We expect the Treasurer will use his recent windfall of up to $10bn to emphasize in Monday’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook that he is on track to generate a budget surplus in 2020/21 and also... 15th December 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Nov.) Another month of extraordinarily strong jobs growth in November leaves little doubt about the current health of the labour market. That said, there is still plenty of spare capacity which will... 14th December 2017 · 1 min read
