The surplus is just under the central estimate.
That's a big drop for imports from the previous month and will raise worries about weak Australian economic growth after yesterday's Q3 GDP was a miss:
A rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia has been priced in around August/September next year. There will need to be substantial progress made on inflation for this to come to fruition. The alternative appears to be (should I say it?) stagflation. But a strong employment market will help counter the prospect of this.
