Any excuse to sell, when sentiment is running this hot against it. |
But other indicators suggested that consumers think that the good times are coming to an end. |
Given that the housing market has only recently hit the brakes, confidence may be set to take another battering. The implication is that the outlook for consumer spending over the coming year remains disconcerting. |
It is predominantly of our own doing. |
Overall, confidence is being pulled down by the squeeze from past tight monetary conditions, and the reality of facing the higher interest bill on our collective debt binge. |
The consumer has already slowed markedly. By June, the economy will have experienced negligible growth for a full year. |
The deterioration in the trade balance appears to be being arrested -- a lower currency and weaker domestic activity will go a long way to improving the current account situation, but it will take some time to show through. |
The economy is in a hole and further easing of monetary conditions is required. |
The first of those risks prompted the bank to tighten late last year when the housing market threatened to take off once more. However, it is the risk of a monetary policy-induced slump that looms larger. |
The slowdown is here with all the subtlety of an uppercut. |
This is at odds with reported wage growth of 5.4% for the year to December 2005. |
This outcome (0.2 per cent growth) makes it more certain the Reserve Bank has finished lifting rates. |
We are in spitting distance of recession, if not already sitting in it. |
We now expect the first interest rate cut to be October. |
We will be faced with a year and a half of virtually no growth in this economy. |