Australian Economy

The ABS just released its business indicators for the March quarter, which posted modest rises across most categories: In particular, inventories rose 0.7% versus -0.2% in Q4. Company profits (+1.7%) also beat last quarter (+0.8%), as did wages & salaries (+1.1% versus +0.8% in Q4).

By Leith van Onselen Roy Morgan Research has released its Business Confidence Survey for May, which reveals that confidence surged after the Coalition’s unexpected election victory:   Roy Morgan Business Confidence jumped 11.5pts (+11.2%) to 114.4 in May in a month in which the L-NP Government was re-elected against the expectations of many.

By Leith van Onselen The ABC’s Michael Janda has done a good job analysing the explosive growth in wealth amongst Australia’s wealthiest elite, whose wealth has grown 50-fold since 1984: Back in 1984, Australia’s 200 richest people had a combined wealth of $6.4 billion.

By Leith van Onselen The latest dwelling construction data has painted an ominous picture for Australia’s jobs market.

We can speculate.

By Leith van Onselen Morgan Stanley has warned that the profits and advertising revenue of traditional media companies will decline as streaming video and music providers become more popular.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released data on capital expenditures (capex) for the March quarter, which registered a 1.7% seasonally adjusted fall in capex volumes over the quarter and a 1.9% decrease over the year (see below table).

The ABS has released private capex expectations for the March QTR and the news is decent: Estimate 2 for total capital expenditure for 2019-20 is $99,139m. This is 12.8% higher than Estimate 2 for 2018-19. The main contributor to the increase was Mining (21.0%).

Via Fair Work: Despite the recent fall in GDP growth, the Australian economy has performed moderately well and the relevant data are all indicative of a strong labour market.

By Leith van Onselen Last week we reported how more than one in five businesses audited by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) across three states were found to have underpaid workers, with employers forced to backpay over $580,000 to nearly 1000 employees.

For thermal coal it is very bad news, via Platts: Import restrictions are continuing to hold up shipments of Australian thermal coal at Chinese ports and a solution to the deadlock is not expected any time soon, market sources said on Friday.

By Leith van Onselen Earlier this week we reported how tolls on some of Sydney’s roads are rising at triple the rate of inflation, which is hammering household budgets.

By Leith van Onselen More than one in five businesses audited by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) across three states have been found to have underpaid workers, with employers forced to backpay over $580,000 to nearly 1000 employees.

By Gerard Minack from Minack Advisors Policy is set to be eased in Australia: tax rebates for low and middle income taxpayers, RBA rate cuts, and looser macro-prudential restrictions.