Latest PMI data indicated a recovery in business activity across Australia at the end of the third quarter after containment measures were loosened in parts of the country. This followed a decline in August. The upturn was driven by a further rise in manufacturing output, while signs of stabilisation were observed in services activity. Demand conditions also improved as business sentiment rose to the highest for just over two years. However, jobs continued to be reduced as operating capacity remained in surplus. On the price front, input costs rose further but output charges fell.
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.
