Westpac's Leading Index for July is due at 0030GMT on 22 August 2018
Its unlikely to be an immediate forex mover. However, its one of my go-to indicators for the Australian economy and its been slow, slow, slow all this year. While the AUD has been driven to a large extent by offshore developments the lacklustre domestic economy (growth is growth, but its not going gangbusters) has played a role in the weakening of the AUD.
For today, preview via Westpac, bolding mine:
- The Leading Index has been pointing to a clear slowing in momentum since the start of the year. The six month annualised growth rate came in at -0.33% in June, the first negative since September last year, pointing to a below trend growth pace well below the comfortably above trend reads seen late last year.
- The July reading looks likely to be a little more positive. It will include several components with more positive updates, in particular, dwelling approvals which rose 6.4% vs -2.5% last month; and total hours worked which will incorporate two positive monthly updates since the last leading index release (+0.7% in June and +0.2% in July vs -1.3% in May). Other components have been more mixed: the ASX200, up 1.4% vs 3% last month; but consumer sentiment components softer and the remaining components - US industrial production, AUD commodity prices, and the yield spread unchanged.
