Australian Industry Group Performance of Services Index for November 2022. Ugly result at 45.6.
Main points from the group's report:
- 3rd month of decline
- All activity indicators in contraction
- employment and new orders indicators declined significantly in November, suggesting weakening demand
- capacity utilisation remained elevated, rising to 82.8%. In services, this reflects ongoing tight employment conditions
- delivery delays, cumulative interest rate increases, and labour shortages were key concerns for businesses
This is the final PMI from Australia for the month. Earlier:
- Australia manufacturing PMI for November 44.7 (prior 49.6)
- Australia's 2nd Manufacturing PMI for November comes in at 51.3 (prior 52.7)
- Australia's construction sector PMI rises in November but remains in contraction at 48.2
- Australian S&P / Markit Services PMI for November remains contracting at 47.6 (prior 47.2)
Yesterday the Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate again. The Bank is struggling to achieve its mandate of inflation around 2 to 3%. The Bank said it expects to raise interest rates further. I expect so also. The RBA is well behind the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The RBNZ are hiking into a weakening economy, the RBA will also.
The latest forecast for the RBNZ:
---
AUD/USD update, little changed on the slumping PMI:
