A couple of bank analyst pieces on the Australian employment report:
- Australia 'trend' labour market numbers are a little steadier
- Australian unemployment rate 5.3% (vs. 5.2% expected & prior of 5.1%)
WPAC makes note of
- unemployment surprise dip in November and December has been fully reversed
- Considerable labour market slack remains
- Employment momentum has slowed, considerably so, and is running below population growth
- This is broadly consistent with the overall economic backdrop - growth well below trend and arguably stuck around a 2% pace.
- calls into question the RBA's optimism
CBA's take is not much different, says the report today reinforces their view of an April rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia but even March is a live meeting now.
AUD has barely bounced at all:
