Australian private survey of inflation soared by 1% m/m in December, the most in 17 months

<p>Australia's privately surveyed monthly inflation gauge comes from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic &amp; Social Research at the University of Melbourne:</p><ul><li>Headline inflation jumped 1% m/m in December, from 0.3% in November </li><li>This is the biggest leap higher in 17 months</li><li>For the y/y, comes in at 5.2% in December, way above the 4.4% recorded in November</li></ul><p>Prior to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' monthly inflation survey beginning this for the Melbourne Institute was the only guide we had to monthly inflation. It was, and remains, a well-respected survey. </p><p>Its completely at odds with the latest from the ABS, although that was for November, not December:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/australian-november-cpi-43-yy-expected-44-20240110/" target="_blank" rel="follow" data-article-link="true">Australian November CPI 4.3% y/y (expected 4.4%)</a></li></ul><p>The ABS publish the December month results on January 31, although it's the quarterly data published the same day that the focus will be on:</p><p>The RBA is concerned that inflation in Australia is sticky above its 2 – 3% target band. This data would seem to reinforce that concern. </p><p>***</p><p>In other data, Australian ANZ Job Advertisements for December have come in at +0.1% m/m</p><ul><li>prior -5.1%</li><li>down 17.5% from the November 2022 peak.</li></ul>

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