The Australian dollar jumped today after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released the interest rates decision. As expected, the bank left interest rates unchanged and indicated that the current expansionary policies will continue for a considerable period. In the statement, governor Lowe said:

‘The low level of interest rates is continuing to support the Australian economy. Further progress in reducing unemployment and having inflation return to target is expected, although this progress is likely to be gradual. ‘

In the past month, Australia released mixed data. The employment numbers released on 16th August missed analysts forecasts. In July, the economy lost 3.9K jobs, which was lower than the expected 15K. The participation rate rose by 65.5%, which was lower than the expected 65.7% while the unemployment rate decreased to 5.3%. In today’s statement, the bank said:

‘The outlook for the labour market remains positive. The unemployment rate has fallen to 5.3 per cent, the lowest level in almost six years. The vacancy rate is high and there are reports of skills shortages in some areas. A further gradual decline in the unemployment rate is expected over the next couple of years to around 5 per cent. Wages growth remains low, although it has picked up a little recently. The improvement in the economy should see some further lift in wages growth over time, although this is likely to be a gradual process.’

Last week, the country released disappointing housing numbers. The building approvals contracted by 5.2% in July, which was bigger than the expected 2.5% contraction. The building capital expenditure declined by 3.9%, which was worse than the expected 0.5% gain. Investments in plants and machinery too contracted by 0.9%, which was worse than the expected 1.0% gain while the private new capital expenditure contracted by 2.5%.

Yesterday, we continued to receive disappointing data from the country. Retail sales, which are a good measure of inflation remained flat. Traders expected a 0.3% gain. On a positive note, yesterday’s data showed that business inventories were up by 0.6% while the gross operating profits for the second quarter was at 2.0%, which was better than the expected 1.4% gain.