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6 May 2015
Australian employment preview - Westpac
FXStreet (Bali) - Australia Mar retail sales will be released at 11:30am Syd/9:30am Sing/HK, with Sean Callow, FX Strategist at Westpac, noting that Economists at the Australian-based bank are forecasting a still reasonable gain of 0.4%m/m.
Key Quotes
Australia Mar retail sales will be released at 11:30am Syd/9:30am Sing/HK. The positive factors that drove the Feb print of 0.7% have waned, though we are forecasting a still reasonable gain of 0.4%m/m, in line with market consensus. Expectations of a follow-on RBA rate cut were not met and petrol prices also bounced. The Westpac-MI consumer sentiment index also turned more pessimistic after Feb. The Q1 CPI component detail suggests retail prices were up about 0.2%q/q. This brings our Q1 real retail sales forecast to 1.0%; the market median is 0.8%.
The Asia calendar is low key with only passing interest in Apr China services PMI.
We will also see Europe Apr final composite PMI and UK Apr services PMI. In the US, ADP private payrolls are expected to rise by 200k, though there are downside risks with slow Q1 GDP growth possibly weighing. Fed chair Yellen will be speaking on a panel with IMF’s Lagarde. Atlanta Fed president Lockhart (a centrist and voter this year) will be speaking about monetary policy with Q&A to follow. We also have Fedspeak from Kocherlakota (dove) and George (hawk), both non-voters.
Key Quotes
Australia Mar retail sales will be released at 11:30am Syd/9:30am Sing/HK. The positive factors that drove the Feb print of 0.7% have waned, though we are forecasting a still reasonable gain of 0.4%m/m, in line with market consensus. Expectations of a follow-on RBA rate cut were not met and petrol prices also bounced. The Westpac-MI consumer sentiment index also turned more pessimistic after Feb. The Q1 CPI component detail suggests retail prices were up about 0.2%q/q. This brings our Q1 real retail sales forecast to 1.0%; the market median is 0.8%.
The Asia calendar is low key with only passing interest in Apr China services PMI.
We will also see Europe Apr final composite PMI and UK Apr services PMI. In the US, ADP private payrolls are expected to rise by 200k, though there are downside risks with slow Q1 GDP growth possibly weighing. Fed chair Yellen will be speaking on a panel with IMF’s Lagarde. Atlanta Fed president Lockhart (a centrist and voter this year) will be speaking about monetary policy with Q&A to follow. We also have Fedspeak from Kocherlakota (dove) and George (hawk), both non-voters.