September 1, 2017
Six of the seven activity sub-indexes in the Australian PMI expanded in August with production (up 2.4 points to 61.4) and new orders (up 8.5 points to 64.3) especially strong (readings above 50 indicate expansion in activity, with the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase). Robust expansion in inventories (up 9.9 points to 58.9) rather than sales (down 4.9 points to 50.9) suggests current activity is geared towards future orders and stockpiling rather than for immediate delivery. Seven of the eight manufacturing sub-sectors expanded in August (acording to trend data based on the Henderson 13-month filter), led by non-metallic mineral products (up 3.5 points to 72.3 – its highest monthly level since this sub-series commenced in 2009) and wood & paper products (up 1.7 points to 71.1). These results reflected local demand from the building industry and from food manufacturing and processing (for packaged products). “The alignment of the stars…