Australian Economy

PMI purple patch: ▪ The national construction industry expanded for a fifth consecutive month in June, although the pace of growth moderated slightly from May’s 32-month high level. ▪ The seasonally adjusted Australian Industry Group/ Housing Industry Association Australian Performance of Construction Index (Australian PCI®) fell by 0.7 points to 56.0 points in June.

By Leith van Onselen After stupidly calling for mass privatisation of public monopoly assets, Infrastructure Australia (IA) has now backed a High Speed Rail (HSR) line linking Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

By Leith van Onselen Recently I have ridiculed the new found push by some politicians towards decentralisation, noting that this is a pipe dream based on the settlement pattern of new migrants, which have overwhelmingly chosen to flood Sydney and Melbourne.

Via the AFR: The normally meek June quarter for electricity markets has been turned on its head with wholesale prices breaking records to an extent that is appalling experts and should scare energy users, regulators and governments.

Cross-posted from The Conversation: With affordable houses increasingly out of reach, wage growth slow and household debt high, Australians are certainly feeling poor.

From Goldman: The consumer is under pressure in Australia on multiple fronts including rising power bills, petrol prices and interest rates.

Via the AFR: AMP, the nation’s largest financial services group, is banning property buyers using their mortgage as a “piggy bank” for personal spending, escalating lenders’ response to regulatory pressure to rein-in ballooning household debt.

By Leith van Onselen The most recent ABS demographic statistics for the December quarter of 2016 revealed rampant population growth for both Victoria (read Melbourne) and New South Wales (read Sydney): In the 2016 calendar year, Victoria’s population surged by an insane 147,000, whereas New South Wales’ population grew by 116,000.

From the Kouk at D&B: As slow wage growth and lacklustre GDP figures weigh on the economy, expectations for sales, profits and capital investment are down for the third quarter of 2017 according to Dun & Bradstreet’s June Business Expectations Survey.

By Leith van Onselen Josh Bornstein, an employment and industrial relations lawyer and writer, has penned an excellent article in Fairfax arguing that de-unionisation has stifled Australian wages: There is no plan, no working group, or commissioning of a white paper from the Productivity Commission.

Cross-posted from The Conversation: Australia has the highest rate of population growth of all the medium and large OECD countries.

Via the AFR: British steelmaker and industrial firm Liberty House and its stablemate, IMEC, have emerged as the buyer of the Arrium assets including the Whyalla steelworks after making a third offer on Tuesday night.

AIG services PMI: • The Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Services Index (Australian PSI®) rose by 3.3 points to 54.8 points in June (seasonally adjusted).

Via Credit Suisse: ■ Discretionary categories performed well in May.

Yesterday a variety on commenters on the site pulled out dog whistles, hinted darkly of racism, alleged bias and lorded it over me for criticising the Greens and their immigration policy.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released retail sales figures for the month of May, which registered a 0.7% rise in seasonally-adjusted sales over the month with annual sales firming to 3.8% growth: In trend terms, annual retail sales growth firmed to 3.2%.

By Leith van Onselen Last month, RBA Governor Phil Lowe urged workers to demand pay rises citing a “crisis” in real wages growth.

By Leith van Onselen Last month, WA Premier Mark McGowan released an updated version of the state’s skilled migration list, slashing it to just 18 eligible occupations from 178 previously.

ANZ jobs firmed in June, up 2.7%: There’s a little up trend there but it’s still weak.