PSI shows a little life

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The AiG Performance of Services Index for January is out and shows a little improvement up 2 points to a less appalling 45.3:

  • The services sector was weighed down by further falls in sales and new order levels while employment levels in the sector were broadly unchanged in the month.
  • Businesses, particularly in the property & business services sub-sector, reported that the recent declines in mining sentiment and the value of international coal & iron ore exports have hampered activity.
  • In fact, a number of businesses reported that slowing activity in the mining sector was the most important factor influencing sales in January.
  • Businesses in the retail trade sub-sector also noted that activity during the January sales period was relatively quiet in comparison to previous years.
  • On a more positive note for the sector, the selling price index picked up in January to its highest level since October 2011.

The employment and sales components both fell at a slower pace:

But the leading new orders component fell again:

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Not a great report all up, with a few rays of hope.

psi jan 13 report final (1).pdf

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.