- Down 0.15 points to 98.51
- Index is still indicating above trend growth in the three to nine month window through 2014… but has softened in the last few months from the recent above trend peak in October last year of 1.23%
- The six month annualised deviation from trend growth rate (which indicates the likely pace of economic growth three to nine months into the future) fell from 1.09% in December to 0.46% in January
Says Westpac:
the Index is designed to anticipate the endogenous growth trends in the economy and will not be able to capture the effects of large exogenous shocks such as the wind down in the mining investment cycle. Consequently, whereas the Index is still pointing to above trend growth in the April to October ‘window’ in 2014 Westpac is still expecting below trend growth in 2014 of 2.6% and, indeed, an annualised pace of only 2.6% in the June and September quarters
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Earlier:Australia – Conference Board Leading Index for December: 0.8% (prior was +0.2%)