Previous Trading Days Events 24.04.2024

Australian consumer price inflation slowed less than expected in the first quarter as service cost pressures stayed stubbornly high, a disappointing result for policymakers who were thinking of cuts this year.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the consumer price index CPI rose 1 in the first quarter, above market forecasts of 0.8. For March alone, the CPI rose 3.5 compared to the same month a year earlier, up from 3.4 in February.

Its higher than we were expecting, higher than what the market was expecting and higher than what the RBA would be expecting so that 1 number will be something that theyll be alarmed about, said Madeline Dunk, an economist at ANZ that tipped for a firstrate cut in November.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has left interest rates at 4.35 for three straight meetings as confidence had grown that inflation was on track to ease back to its target band of 23 in late 2025.

Source httpswww.reuters.commarketsaustraliaq1annualinflationslowslessthanexpectedcoresticky20240424

New orders for key U.S. manufactured capital goods increased moderately in March and data for the prior month was revised lower.

From a narrow GDP accounting perspective, there should be no material impact on estimates for tomorrows firstquarter GDP growth, said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital. The positive takeaway from this is that the report suggests that weakness in…