More wash up from the dreadful Capex data yesterday in Australia

See these for the data and the immediate reactions (and no, 'crapex' is not a typo):

  • Australia Q1 Capex: -4.4% (vs. expected -2.2%)
  • Australia - responses to Capex data: earth shattering, crapex, very sobering

Here are some points from one article in the Aussie press this morning (bolding is mine):

  • Two weeks after the budget, Australia's economic outlook is bleak.
  • Mining as well as non-mining firms are planning to slash investment in the year ahead
  • "The rotation away from mining investment that seemed to be progressing over the past year is no longer advancing," said JP Morgan economist Stephen Walters. "Firms outside resources actually have downgraded their spending intentions after adjustment for the usual estimation errors. They are in no position to offset the even steeper fall by mining firms."
  • UBS economist George Tharenou told clients the outlook had switched "from bleak to recessionary". "The capital expenditure cliff has arrived early," he said. "This data is so bad it would worry the Reserve Bank and raises the risk they will cut rates again ahead."
  • "Private capital expenditure is now down 11 per cent since the last election and the result is the worst since the global financial crisis"

More here: Capital investment: Economic outlook slips 'from bleak to recessionary'