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."

Friday, January 20, 2012

Import prices: Australia starts to import inflation

From JP Morgan:

"On the imports side, prices jumped 2.5% (J.P. Morgan +2.6%q/q, consensus +0.6%q/q), with weaker currency driving the AUD price of petroleum, petroleum products and related material (+5.5%q/q) higher. The apparel and clothing accessories (+5.8%q/q), and machinery specialized for particular industries (+4.1%q/q) also posted solid increases. Those results were partially offset by a decline in prices paid for non-ferrous metals (-8.9%q/q) and inorganic chemicals (-12.6%q/q), however both of these categories only account for a small contribution to the total import price index, muting their impact."
at 1:19 PM