Data Diary

In its latest Bulletin, the RBA added its two-pence into the Central Bank piggy bank of analysis for the reasons for high commodity prices (here). They conclude: Commodity prices are currently both high and volatile relative to the past few decades, consistent with the physical supply and demand fundamentals that underpin these markets. However, the increase in prices and volatility [...]

From ICAP’s bulk shipping first quarter report: …most notable was the massive change in China’s imports of iron ore between January and February which collapsed from 68 Mt to 48 Mt and when this was combined with the 10 Mt fall in the country’s coal imports also in February the resulting 30 Mt drop exceeds [...]

We all suffer from bias – it’s what makes interpreting the subtext fun. So how to read the RBA’s latest commodity price release (here)? Preliminary estimates for March indicate that the index rose by 0.6 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after rising by 1.4 per cent in February (revised). The largest [...]

Another month rolls by (Feb report here) and commodities still power on – the RBA published it’s monthly commodity index (here): The prices of Australia’s basket of commodity exports climbed higher against all comers. Preliminary estimates for February indicate that the index rose by 2.2 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, [...]

Global industrial production is set to climb again – as it waddles after those cardigan wearing purchasing managers: The US has been leading the way – from the JP Morgan Global PMI Report report (here) The US PMI rose to an eighty-month high in January, while its counterpart in the Eurozone hit a nine-month peak. [...]

Uncle Scrooge is scratching his head about what to think about China. On the one hand, we have the (glacially slow to market) OECD leading indicators that have been signalling a slowdown in China for some time now (see here – next update due 13Dec10).  Albert Edwards notes (via Alphaville here) that with these indicators in [...]

Follow-up on an earlier post (here) where we suggested that recent moves in currencies were impacting trade flows, Markit (here) reports that world trade was up in October lead by exports from developed economies – and in particular the US. Note that new export orders for Australia, Brazil and Russia were all down for the month. [...]

A colleague in the fresh produce trade remarked at the weekend that exports out of the US have surged over recent months. Typically, US producers sell most of their product to the domestic market, but with the US$ plunging relative to Asia, these guys are finding better prices offshore.  If the Fed’s strategy was to [...]

The good news keeps on coming – the RBA released its commodity price index yesterday (here): And from the RBA: Over the past year, the index has risen 53 per cent in SDR terms. Much of this rise has been due to increases in iron ore, coking coal and thermal coal export prices, although all components [...]

The RBA released its monthly commodity price index for May10 yesterday (you’ll find it here).  Perhaps surprisingly, the overall index was up. The fact that it continued to climb is partly a function of its composition (see here for a breakdown – note gold makes up a handy 9.5%) and partly the way it is [...]