Australian data Q1 Business Inventories +1.3% q/q (expected 0.7%)

Business Inventories Q1 +1.3%, a solid beat

• expected 0.7% q/q, prior -1.7%

Gross Company Profits Q1 -2.5%, a miss

• expected -0.6%, prior +7.4%

Current Account Balance SA Q1 -4.9% … shockingly bad compared to the surplus expected

• expected AUD5.1bn, prior AUD11.8bn

Net Exports Contribution Q1 -0.9%, a miss, and a big chunk subtracted from GDP

• expected -0.6%, prior +0.6%

Public sector demand will add 0.2% to Q1 GDP

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AUD/USD is falling a little on the data. Misses all over the place, the exception being growing inventories … which while a contribution to growth is not a ‘good’ contribution to the extent it indicates stockpiling of goods rather than selling them due to weak demand (if its stockpiling due to an expected surge in demand ahead it’s a different story, but that is unlikely to be the case in Australia right now).

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For Wednesday, preview

• Australia Q1 GDP report due Wednesday, expected to remain very weak

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