Australia flash PMIs for May: manufacturing 59.9 (from 59.7 prior)

Australia Markit preliminary PMIs for May

• Manufacturing 59.9 from prior 59.7

• Services 58.2 from prior 58.8

• Composite 58.1 from prior 58.8

Remarks from IHS Markit:

• "Australia's private sector growth eased from April's survey record. That said, growth remained sharp to affirm the continued improvement in economic conditions following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
• "Export orders notably continued to improve, reflecting the robust external demand despite concerns of rising COVID-19 cases in the region. In turn, this filtered through to the labour market with employment improving at the fastest pace in the survey's five-year history.
• "The outlook for activity over the coming year remained optimistic, particularly in the service sector in May. Ongoing supply-chain disruptions, however, continued to impact private sector firms, pushing up input cost inflation and thereby output prices."

That last point on inflation, how long will the bottlenecks last is the question. Australia can be a long way from the rest of the world (the rest of the world is a MUCH larger market) so they could persist longer than expected.