The monthly Consumer Price Index (YoY), released by the RBA and republished by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has arrived as follows:
- Australia Q4 Headline CPI 1.9% QoQ vs. the expected 1.6%, the prior was 1.8%
- Trimmed mean +1.7 pct QoQ (Reuters poll +1.5 pct).
- Q4 (all groups) +1.9 pct QoQ (Reuters poll +1.6 pct).
- RBA weighted median CPI +1.6 pct QoQ (Reuters poll +1.4 pct).
- RBA Trimmed mean CPI +6.9 pct YoY (Reuters poll +6.5 pct).
AUD/USD update
AUD/USD is rallying hard to a fresh bull cycle high near 0.7080.
About the monthly CPI
This is a measure of price movements by the comparison between the retail prices of a representative shopping basket of goods and services. The purchasing power of AUD is dragged down by inflation. The CPI is a key indicator to measure inflation and changes in purchasing trends. A high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while a low reading is seen as negative (or bearish). Note: This indicator started to be published in 2022 and it updates the price change for the last 12 months in Australia in a monthly basis, instead of the quarterly period of the main Australian CPI.