Private Capital Expenditure from the Australian Bureau of Statistics

The two key figures in the capex survey are:

  1. Q2 2017 actual spending
  2. 2017/18 expectations, today we get the 3rd estimate

On 1 ...

  • A big beat for the headline, comes in at 0.8% q/q against expectations of 0.2%

On 2 ....

  • Latest estimate (3rd estimate) 2017/18 capex A$101.8 bln (a big jump from the 2nd estimate of 95.9bn AUD). Note, although it's a good jump it down 3.6% on the 3rd estimate this time last year (last year reflected 'lumpy' items like LNG investment flows, so comparing to this time last year is a tricky comparison)

More:

  • Q2 building capex -0.6 pct q/q
  • plant/machinery capex +2.7 pct q/q (this will go into next week's GDP release)

Bottom line is this is good report and should be a positive for the Australian dollar

More:

  • Mining investment is down 22% y/y ... no surprise here ... this "cliff" continues
  • manufacturing -3% y/y
  • On the other hand, services investment is up 10% on the year - very encouraging from a sector that was lagging ... a positive sign for the Australian economy

more to come

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ps. For more background on this check out the previews