Thursday 13th August 2020

US equities continue to race upwards, at or near record highs. NAB’s Ray Attrill attributes it to same reasons we’ve heard a lot lately – easing infection rates, hopes of a stimulus and hanging out for a vaccine. There was less optimism in the UK, where the reality of an economy falling by one fifth in Q2 struck home. In Europe, industrial production numbers eased off a little, whilst infection rates in some countries are continuing to pick up. Whilst US inflation was higher than expected, Aussie wage growth was much slower than anticipated. And the RBNZ yesterday was much more dovish than expected, ramping up its QE. Today jobs numbers are the focus, with the Australian Labour Force data and the weekly jobless claims for the US.