Westpac Economic Update: 20 February 2015

Westpac Senior Economist Andrew Hanlan comments on the release of the minutes from February’s RBA meeting and predictions for forthcoming interest rates; the weak state of the ‘wage/income story’ and subsequent softening in consumer spending; as well as the housing sector’s response to lower interest rates. Looking ahead to next week there’ll be 2014 Q4 construction data released (in light of the continuing downturn in mining investment); 2015/16 forward estimates for business investment expectations; as well as two important upcoming speeches from the heads of the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.

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.