Economic growth for the third quarter of 2018 (July to September) in Australia
0.3 % q/q oh dear, dreadful miss
- expected +0.6% q/q, prior +0.9%
2.8 % y/y
- expected +3.3% y/y, prior +3.4%
AUD getting a bit of a smack lower. This is a terrible miss.
OK, lets get to the highlights (lowlights more like … Lowelights even)
- consumption +0.3% q/q
- price index 0.9% q/q
- draw in inventories detracted (inventory negative contribution)
- savings rate at its lowest since the last quarter of 2017
more to come
Reminder - the Reserve Bank of Australia is now on holiday, the next monetary policy board meeting is scheduled for February. AUD bonds higher (yield lower) as expectations of a rate hike are pared back even further (I really should clarify that expectations of a hike were (and now still remain) extremely low. I made the point yesterday that the RBA is missing (again and again) on its inflation target and yet continues to post over optimistic projections. These guys are on track for what will be judged a policy mistake if they cannot revise their projections in light of incoming data. But … yeah … it will be two months before we know how they'll react. Sheesh.
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For background:
