Conference Board Leading Index for June,

Yesterday we got the Westpac leading index

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Conference Board Leading Economic Index for Australia increased 0.4%, now stands at 130.2

  • six of the seven leading components making a positive contribution
  • The positive contributors to the index — in order from the largest positive contributor to the smallest — are the sales to inventories ratio, the yield spread, rural goods exports, building approvals, money supply, and gross operating surplus
  • Share prices declined in June.
  • With this month’s increase, the six-month growth rate in the leading economic index between December 2013 to June 2014 stands at 1.5 percent (about a 3.0 percent annual rate), down from 2.6 percent (about a 5.4 percent annual rate) for the previous six months
  • However the strengths among the leading indicators have continued to outweigh the weaknesses, over the past six months
  • Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that economic expansion is not likely to accelerate in the near term

Coincident Economic Index increased 0.2% to 125.2

  • Grew 1.3 percent (about a 2.6 percent annual rate) in the six-month period through June 2014, up from 0.7 percent (about a 1.5 percent annual rate) in the previous six months
  • Meanwhile, real GDP increased at a 4.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2014, up from 3.2 percent (annual rate) in the fourth quarter of 2013
  • Three of the four components that make up The Conference Board CEI for Australia increased in June
  • The increases – in order from the largest positive contributor to the smallest – occurred in household gross disposable income, employed persons and industrial production. Retail trade declined in June