I was lamenting the poor performance of the March manufacturing PMI:
No such problem with services, though, an improvement on the month, and also on the flash reading:
From the report:
- Output index rising to a new cyclical high of 54.4. This is the fourth consecutive month of improvement, with the services output index increasing by 8.4 points, the largest gain in the series outside of recovery from lockdowns.
- services output index is now above its long-run average level of 51.7
- March 2024 reading is the highest since April 2022, when the monetary policy tightening cycle commenced
- Outstanding Business Index rose to its highest level since the Reserve Bank of Australia started raising interest rates in May 2022
- other activity indicators in the survey were down slightly in March, but remained well above the neutral 50 index level
- Cost pressures remain elevated, although there are some signs of a gradual easing over the past six months
- input price index fell slightly to 61.5, the lowest since 2021, but not much lower than the average reading of 62.8 seen through the second half of 2023
- Prices Charged Index remained unchanged at 55.0 in March, a little higher than the average over the past quarter and broadly in line with index readings of the past year
Good news in this report. A niggle is the price pressures, indicating the RBA is not going to be cutting any time soon. Market consensus is around September for an initial cut.