US retail sales are soft and US producer prices fall. The RBA is expected to look through Australia’s jobs market surge in April, and New Zealand house prices appear to have turned a corner.
In our deep-dive interview, ANZ Commodities Strategist Soni Kumari looks into shifting patterns in Chinese Gold demand, and what that might do to the Gold price.
5 things to know in 5 minutes:
US markets are mixed this morning after conflicting signals from the US economy. US retail sales figures for April were softer than expected. The key control group measure fell 0.2%, when a 0.3% rise had been expected. Core US producer prices fell 0.4% in April, suggesting a softening of demand, says ANZ Head of G3 Economics Brian Martin.
Australian employment surged 89,000 in April, vs market expectations of 22,500. ANZ Economist Aaron Luk says recent months have seen a lot of volatility in the employment numbers.
Aaron says the Reserve Bank of Australia should look through the employment strength, as it considers whether to cut rates on Tuesday next week.
Partial inflation data in New Zealand was stronger than expected in April, led by food prices and international airfares. ANZ New Zealand Chief Economist Sharon Zollner says the results add some upside risk to ANZ’s Q2 CPI forecast of 0.4%.
In New Zealand, the Real Estate Institute’s seasonally adjusted house price index rose 0.4% in April, which was above the 0.1-0.2% rises seen in the past five months. ANZ Economist Matthew Galt says the market is slowly turning a corner.
Cheers,
Bernard
PS: Catch you next week as we look ahead to the RBA’s Tuesday rates decision.
