Australian December Services PMI 47.1 (prior 46.0)

<p>Judo Bank / S&amp;P Global November Services PMI comes in at 47.1, improved but still in contraction</p><ul><li>November was 46.0</li></ul><p>Composite is 46.9</p><ul><li>November's was 46.2</li></ul><p>From the analysis in the report, on inflation and employment:</p><ul><li>“Employment growth has continued to be at odds with a
slowing economy through December. The employment index
rose to 51.9 over the month, driven by a significant pickup
in services sector employment. The index has remained
comfortably in positive territory through 2023, and with official
readings for job vacancies and advertisements remaining
well above pre-pandemic trends, strong employment growth
will likely continue through early 2024.
</li><li>“Input prices softened through December, partially relieving
some businesses of elevated margin pressure. While input
price pressures eased, the current index levels for both input
and output prices remain well above pre-pandemic levels
and are consistent with sticky inflation above the RBA's target
range of 2-3%. Index readings for the services sector confirm
official data on inflation and service inflation's sticky nature.</li></ul><p>'Sticky inflation' argues for the Reserve Bank of Australia to be higher for longer. I posted earlier this week on:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/bank-of-america-predicts-no-rate-cut-from-the-reserve-bank-of-australia-until-2025-20240102/" target="_blank" rel="follow" data-article-link="true">Bank of America predicts no rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia until 2025</a></li></ul><p>—</p><p>Earlier this week we had the December manufacturing PMI:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/australia-final-december-manufacturing-pmi-476-prior-477-20240101/" target="_blank" rel="follow" data-article-link="true">Australia final December manufacturing PMI 47.6 (prior 47.7)</a></li></ul><p>The flash readings from December are here:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/australian-preliminary-pmis-for-november-improve-but-remain-in-contraction-20231214/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Australian Preliminary PMIs for December improve but remain in contraction</a></li></ul>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.