Q4 capex dropped 2.1% q/q in Q4-16 (after -3.3%), still slumping 15.5% y/y
Private real capex fell more than consensus again, down 2.1% q/q in Q4-16 (UBS: -2.5%, mkt: -0.5%), after -3.3% in Q3-16 (was -4.0%). This continued the ‘capex cliff’ with the y/y relapsing to a poor -15.5% (after -13.1%). By sector, buildings drove the decline (-4.1% q/q, -25.5% y/y), but equipment edged up (+0.4%, +1.5% y/y). By industry, mining kept collapsing (-9.3%, -37.5% y/y), but was partly offset by a rebound of manufacturing (3.2%, 0.6% y/y) & ‘other’ (1.8%, 2.7% y/y). By State, WA continues to slump (-3.7%, -38.6% y/y), but ex-WA also fell (-1.6% q/q, -2.4% y/y).
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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.
