Australian Economy

The CBA Business Sales Index Report:  The Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI) – a measure of economy-wide spending – rose by 0.4 per cent in trend terms in December after similar increases in both October and November.

Via UBS: Based on our proprietary inflation survey, we are revising up our long-held topdown forecast for Q4 headline CPI (due on January 31) to an increase of 0.7% q/q (was 0.6% q/q initially).

From Gottiboff today: Despite a few interruptions, US bond interest rates have been falling since the early 1980s as US bond prices rose, forcing yields lower.

Do-nothing Malcolm is cock-a-hoop about his jobs boom: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joined economists in hailing a booming labour market after data released Thursday showed the economy recorded its strongest year of jobs growth since the global financial crisis.

Be upstanding for the double ton, via UBS: Household debt restated upwards With the release of the National Accounts the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been undertaking ‘quality assurance work’ and making a number of revisions to historical estimates.

By Leith van Onselen As summarised earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released its labour force report for December, which registered a strong 34,700 increase in total employment but an increase in the headline unemployment rate (from 5.4% to 5.5%).

The ABS is out with December Labour Force and the news is mixed: Beat on jobs but missed on unemployment rate with hours worked pulling back.

Via Westpac: Sentiment has continued to recover from the weakness seen in the September quarter last year, bolstered by a less threatening outlook for interest rates and improving confidence around the economy and jobs.

Via Herald Sun: DICK Smith has criticised the Australian Open’s decision to sell bottled water from China, as a local brewery offered to supply water to the tournament in 2019.

From Home Affairs today: Full release here.

By Leith van Onselen The Productivity Commission’s recent productivity review showed that employment outcomes for full-time graduates “have been getting worse”, whereas a quarter of recent graduates believed their degrees added no value: For those who do complete their degrees, post graduation outcomes have been getting worse.

By Leith van Onselen The Turnbull Government clearly has no interest in managing Australia’s borders, nor reining-in Australia’s brake-neck population growth, with the Department of Immigration set to hand over administration of Australia’s visa system to private operators.

By Leith van Onselen Last month, I reported how Sydney’s crippling immigration-fuelled population growth had pushed the rail network to breaking point, with one early morning incident causing mayhem well into the evening across the metropolitan train system.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released job vacancies data for the November quarter, which recorded a 2.7% seasonally adjusted rise over the quarter and a 4.2% rise in trend terms: Over the year, job vacancies rose by 16.1% in seasonally adjusted terms and by 16.7% in trend terms.

From ANZ: Key Points: In seasonally adjusted terms, ANZ Job Advertisements fell 2.3% in December largely unwinding the increase over the previous two months.

By Martin North, cross-posted from the Digital Finance Analytics Blog: The latest edition of the Digital Finance Analytics Household Financial Security Confidence Index, to December 2017 shows another fall, down from 96.1 last month to 95.7 this time, and remains below the neutral measure of 100.

By Leith van Onselen William McDougall, a transport planner with 40 years’ experience, is the latest to bemoan the crippling cost of Melbourne’s infrastructure projects.