The top tier economic data continues to roll out. This week the market mover will be the private new capital expenditure survey, business investment in other words. After years of sharp declines where investment as a share of GDP fell to a 25 year low, there was a bottoming out around the middle of 2017.
The business investment numbers are forecast to confirm a further moderate pick up in the December quarter which will be an important input into the GDP result which is published in early March. Perhaps more important will be the expectations for business investment out to 2018-19 where firms indicate their expected investment spending. While the prior survey was problematic on the investment outlook, the market is expecting a more upbeat view for investment in the remainder of 2017-18 and into 2018-19.
Source: RBA
