Retail sales were solid; the 1.2% rise in January was again driven by a rise in spending in cafes, takeaway joints and eateries.
Australians obviously have enough money to spend on luxuries like eating out, even if it is coffee.
This group has now being leading the retail recovery for the best part of a year or more.
Food, department stories, clothes and household goods were also sold, while sales were up in WA, NSW, Victoria and South Australia, down in Tasmania, steady in Queensland.
The market had been expecting a rise of half a per cent.
Building approvals was a bit of a surprise on the surface.
The 7% fall followed four months of rises.
Approvals for private sector houses rose 0.3%, and the usual lumpy nature of non private dwellings showed up with a 21.9% drop in approvals for apartments, units and townhouses.
It and private sector houses had had two months of rises.
Obviously the councils were slow in January, or the banks were unusually tough in extending credit to developers.
The market had been expecting a 1% fall, a bit of an under-estimate.
Going on the score so far of 2010 financial information, the January employment data was strong, with the rate down to 5.3%, retail sales are OK, private housing also OK, new home sales were up 9.5% in January, according to the Housing Industry Association, and business conditions seem to be on the up with the manufacturing sector seeing growth.
Confidence is still solid. Job ads were weak in January, but its early days. Ad revenues in TV and radio are improving and newspapers report stronger demand from advertisers.
In short the economy is now growing under its own steam.
