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Australia's Consumer Sentiment Deteriorates In September





Australia's consumer confidence deteriorated in September reflecting political instability and rises in mortgage interest rates, data from Westpac showed Wednesday.


The Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment declined 3 percent to 100.5 in September. This was weakest since November last year.


Although the index remained in positive territory, the reading was just above the 100 level.


Data suggested that confidence has been affected by increases in mortgage interest rates, political instability and household budget pressures.


All sub-indices recorded declines in September with the 'economic outlook, next 5 years' showing the biggest move, a 5.8 percent decrease.


Consumer views around family finances remained notably weaker. The 'finances vs a year ago' and 'finances, next 12 months' sub-indexes both registered 3.6 percent falls in September.


Westpac said aside from the rise in mortgage interest rates, household budgets were also coming under persistent pressure from slow growth in wages, declining house prices in Sydney and Melbourne and the rising cost of petrol.


Further, data showed that consumers remained relatively downbeat on spending. The 'time to buy a major household item' sub-index declined 2.2 percent in September.


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Japan Core Machine Orders Surge 11.0% In July





Core machine orders in Japan were up a seasonally adjusted 11.0 percent on month in July, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday - coming in at 918.6 billion yen.


That beat expectations for a gain of 5.5 percent following the 8.8 percent slide in June.


On a yearly basis, core machine orders jumped 13.9 percent - also exceeding forecasts for 4.3 percent after adding 0.3 percent in the previous month.


The overall value of machine orders in Japan spiked 18.8 percent on month and 11.5 percent on year, standing at 2,630.4 billion yen.


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New Zealand Manufacturing Growth Remains Weak




New Zealand's manufacturing sector activity remained in low gear for the third consecutive month in August, survey data showed Friday.


The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of manufacturing index rose 0.8 points to 52.0 in August. Although the indicator remained above 50.0, it was below the long run average of 53.4. At 52.6, production returned to expansion and the new orders sub-index rose to 53.2. Meanwhile, the employment sub-indicator fell back into contraction to its lowest since August 2016. The corresponding reading was 48.1.


BNZ Senior Economist, Craig Ebert said that "although the PMI improved in August, this was hardly different to the average of the previous two months, leaving the PMI running below normal in its growth signal".


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UK Household Finance Index Remains Close To Record High





UK households' perceptions of financial wellbeing remained close to survey-high in September, data from IHS Markit showed Monday.


The household finance index held steady at 45.9 in September, which was the second highest score since the survey began in February 2009.


Household finances were underpinned by improved earnings from employment and favorable labor market conditions.


UK households' outlook regarding future budgets strengthened in September. Moreover, income from employment increased in September.


At the same time, job security perceptions deteriorated, in contrast to the generally upbeat signal from the current and future household finance assessements.


Although expectations of further inflation were sustained in September, the proportion of households anticipating rising living costs was the lowest since November 2016, data showed.


"The HFI survey pointed to the second-lowest level of pessimism about future finances since the EU referendum," Joe Hayes, an economist at IHS Markit, said.


Nonetheless, the latest survey still raised some concerns about the outlook for consumer spending, Hayes added.


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Australia House Prices Slide 0.7% In Q2



House prices in Australia were down 0.7 percent on quarter in the second quarter of 2018, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday - in line with expectations and unchanged from the three months prior.


The capital city residential property price indexes fell in Sydney (-1.2 percent), Melbourne (-0.8 percent), Perth (-0.1 percent) and Darwin (-0.9 percent), and rose in Brisbane (+0.7 percent), Hobart (+3.0 percent), Adelaide (+0.3 percent) and Canberra (+0.6 percent).


On a yearly basis, house prices dipped 0.6 percent versus expectations for a loss of 0.7 percent after rising 2.0 percent in Q1.


Annually, residential property prices fell in Darwin (-6.1 percent), Sydney (-3.9 percent) and Perth (-0.9 percent), and rose in Hobart (+15.5 percent), Canberra (+3.0 percent), Melbourne (+2.3 percent), Adelaide (+2.1 percent) and Brisbane (+1.7 percent).


The total value of residential dwellings in Australia was A$6,926,538.0 million at the end of the June quarter 2018, falling A$13,321.1 million over the quarter.


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Malaysia's Inflation Eases More Than Forecast





Malaysia's inflation eased more-than-expected in August on fuel cost, figures from the Department of Statistics showed Wednesday.


Consumer price inflation slowed to 0.2 percent in August, the lowest rate within 42 months, the statistical office said. The rate was expected to drop to 0.4 percent from 0.9 percent in July.


The slowdown was largely driven by cost of fuel which caused the index of transport to rise 2.1 percent compared to the 6.7 percent increase logged in July.


Also, prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels advanced 2 percent, education by 1.1 percent and food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 0.4 percent, contributing to the increase in annual inflation.


On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 0.2 percent. During January to August, consumer prices registered an annual growth of 1.3 percent.

European Economics Preview: Swiss National Bank Rate Decision Due





The monetary policy assessment from Swiss National Bank is due on Thursday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.


At 2.00 am ET, Switzerland's foreign trade data is due for August.


At 3.00 am ET, average gross wages from Hungary and consumer confidence from Turkey are due.


At 3.30 am ET, the Swiss National Bank is scheduled to release the outcome of its monetary policy meeting. The SNB is expected to hold its interest rate on sight deposits at -0.75 percent and the target range for the three-month Libor between -1.25 percent and -0.25 percent.


At 4.00 am ET, Norges Bank is set to announce its rate decision. The bank is expected to hike its key deposit rate to 0.75 percent from 0.5 percent.


At 4.30 am ET, the Office for National Statistics is scheduled to issue UK retail sales data for August. Sales, including auto fuel, are forecast to drop 0.2 percent on month in August, reversing a 0.7 percent rise in July.

European Economics Preview: Eurozone Flash PMI Data Due





Flash Purchasing Managers' survey data from euro area and public sector finance from the UK are due on Friday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.


At 3.00 am ET, IHS Markit publishes France's flash purchasing managers' survey results. The composite PMI is seen falling to 54.6 in September from 54.9 in August.


Half an hour later, Germany's flash composite PMI data is due. Economists forecast the composite index to drop to 55.4 in September from 55.6 in August.


At 4.00 am ET, Eurozone flash PMI results are due. The composite reading is seen at 54.5 in September, unchanged from August.


In the meantime, Statistics Poland publishes retail sales data for August. Economists forecast sales to grow 1 percent on month, following a 0.3 percent drop in July.


At 4.30 am ET, the Office for National Statistics releases UK public sector finance data. The budget deficit is seen at GBP 3.4 billion in August compared to a surplus of GBP 2 billion in July.

European Economics Preview: Germany Ifo Business Confidence Data Due





Business sentiment from Germany is due on Monday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.


At 2.00 am ET, Statistics Finland publishes producer prices for August. Prices had increased 0.4 percent on month in July.


At 3.00 am ET, the Czech Statistical Office is slated to release consumer and business sentiment survey results.


At 4.00 am ET, Germany's Ifo business sentiment survey data is due. The business sentiment index is seen falling slightly to 103.6 in September from 103.8 in August.


At 9.00 am ET, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is set to speak at the ECON Hearing of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.


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BoJ Minutes: Japanese Economy Continues To See Moderate Expansion




Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting said that Japan's economic expansion is continuing at an acceptable pace, minutes from the bank's meeting on July 30 and 31 revealed on Tuesday.


At the meeting, the central bank retained its massive monetary stimulus as expected, including the -0.1 percent interest rate on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank.


"The staff explained that one option would be to indicate that the Bank intended to maintain the current extremely low levels of short- and long-term interest rates for an extended period of time, taking into account uncertainties regarding economic activity and prices," the minutes said.


The bank will continue to purchase government bonds so that the yield on the 10-year Japanese government bonds remains at around zero percent.


The BoJ is set to conduct purchases of Japanese government bonds in a flexible manner so that the outstanding amount will increase at an annual pace of about JPY 80 trillion.


Annual inflation is expected to gradually continue rising towards the target goal of 2 percent, the minutes said. The inflation outlook was downgraded, while maintaining growth projections.


The inflation forecast for fiscal 2018 was trimmed to 1.1 percent from 1.3 percent. Likewise, the projection for fiscal 2019 was lowered to 1.5 percent from 1.8 percent and that for 2020 to 1.6 percent from 1.8 percent.


"With regard to the outlook, the year-on-year rate of change in the CPI (all items less fresh food) was likely to increase gradually toward 2 percent, mainly on the back of a rise in medium- to long-term inflation expectations with the output gap remaining positive," the minutes said.


At the same time, the bank maintained its growth forecast for both fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020 at 0.8 percent.


Overseas economies are generally seeing continued growth, the minutes said, although global financial markets are intermittently seeing periods of instability.


"The Bank will examine the risks considered most relevant to the conduct of monetary policy and make policy adjustments as appropriate," the minutes said.


Also on Tuesday, the central bank said that producer prices in Japan were up 1.3 percent on year in August - exceeding expectations for an increase of 1.1 percent, which would have been unchanged from the July reading.


On a monthly basis, producer prices were unchanged after rising 0.1 percent in the previous month.


Among the individual components, prices were up for advertising services, information and communications and real estate.


Prices were down for architectural services and hotels.


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