The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Thursday, June 2, 2011

GDP measures of inflation also very high in Q1

More from the good folks at ANZ:

"Consistent with the high CPI in Q1, most national accounts measures of prices for consumers were also strong. The chain price index for household consumption, the series most directly comparable to the CPI, gained 1.5% q/q. Growth in the household consumption deflator meanwhile (which is affected by compositional change) was slightly lower at 1.1% q/q, suggesting some substitution away from more expensive goods and services. Broader measures of prices in the economy were also high. In particular, the GDP chain price index increased by 1.7% q/q and the GDP deflator rose 1.9% y/y. This primarily reflected the 5.8% q/q increase in the terms of trade, with another fall in the deflator for machinery & equipment investment prices (-1.3% q/q, -4.9% y/y) the most notable offset."
at 8:28 AM