Few Surprises in a Slow Data Week
• There were few surprises in this week’s light schedule of economic releases. The monthly JOLTs employment figures showed hiring picking up modestly, but voluntary separations remain near recession lows, signaling a lack of confidence in the job market.
• Consumer credit rose much less than expected in March, which raises new questions about the future course of consumer spending. Part of the slowdown may have also been in student loans.
• Wholesale inventories rose 0.4 percent in March, as sales tumbled 1.6 percent.
Unexpected Rate Cut from Australian Reserve Bank
• Despite a consensus view that it would sit tight again at its meeting earlier this week, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut its cash rate to 2.75 percent–a rate that is even lower than where it was during the worst of the global recession in 2009.
• Are things really that bad in Australia or in the global economy? Or does this move have more to do with an effort by the RBA to keep up with the expansionary policies being embraced by other central banks and the indirect effect that it has had on currency values?
Click here to read the full report: Economic Research
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