AU Data
- Wednesday 13.00 Skilled Vacancies for May previous -2.2% m/m
Last week saw unemployment fall to a 33 year low at 4.4%, however the wage price index did moderate to 1.1% suggesting the tight labour market is unlikely to be enough to force the RBA into any further monetary tightening. This week is relatively scant on the data front with the only highlight being Wednesday's skilled vacancies release.
NZ Data
- Thursday 10.45 Trade Balance for April, previous +$61m m/m
Last week saw New Zealand retail sales surge to 3.8%, however this was offset by PPI coming in well below expectations. This week the market will focus on Thursday's Trade Balance as it looks to gauge whether NZ Exporters are suffering from the strength of the NZ Dollar.
US Data
- Thursday 00.30 Durable Goods Orders for April previous +3.7% m/m
- Thursday 02.00 New Home Sales for April previous 858k
- Friday 02.00 Existing Home Sales for APril previous 6.12m
Last week saw a generally strong set of data from the US with a drop in CPI to 0.4% m/m offset by a strong Empire State Manufacturing Survey (+8.0%) and Capital inflows surging to $67.6bn. This was further compounded by surprisingly bullish Industrial Production (+0.7%) and Housing Starts up 2.5% m/m. This week the market will focus on Thursday and Friday's Home Sales data as the slowing housing market has been one of the FED's key concerns in recent months.
Interest rate outlook
| Country |
Current rate |
Last change |
Date of change |
Next meeting |
| AUS (RBA) |
6.25% |
+25bps |
08/11/06 |
6th June |
| NZ (RBNZ) |
7.75% |
+25bps |
26/04/07 |
7th June |
| US (FED) |
5.25% |
+25bps |
29/06/06 |
28th June |