Westpac Economic Update

Westpac Economist Elliot Clarke comments on this week’s data from both the NAB Business Confidence and Westpac Melbourne Institute Consumer Confidence surveys; as well as January’s labour force figures. In the US retail sales were weaker than expected and Q4 estimates were revised downwards. Next week, the focus is more overseas with the European GDP release plus price and housing data out of the US.

You can find more weekly economic updates from Bill Evans and his team on the Westpac website. Their forecasts are available every Friday at lunchtime, Sydney time.