The recovery in consumer spending is in its infancy. Retail growth in real terms has been the weakest in 12 years and is just picking itself up from the bottom. The car market is still weak, with seasonally adjusted sales falling 2 per cent in March after a 2 per cent fall in February. |
The Reserve Bank can just about shut up shop until 2006...the two remaining board meetings (this year) will prove nonevents. |
The soaring price of petrol is now starting to pose a major threat to the Australian economy. |
The US dollar rose on Friday, with investors believing that a rise in the key core PCE deflator will keep the Federal Reserve poised to lift interest rates. |
There is only so long business can absorb higher production costs. Something has got to give and what's most likely to give is prices. |
This time around we believe that the Bank of Japan is going to learn from past experience. We believe that the Japanese government is going to learn from past experience. |
Unemployment is low, wages are growing at a healthy pace and interest rates remain stable. Retailers have also played their part by discounting heavily. |
We had very solid gains over December and some profit taking is not out of the question at this time of the year. |
What we are starting to see are the motors running. Momentum is very important in any recovery and that is what we are starting to see in Japan at the moment. |