March quarter data from Australia for Iventories and Company Operating Profit

Australia - Q1 Inventories +1.2% q/q

  • expected +0.5%, prior +0.3%
  • Up 2.5% y/y

Company Operating Profit +6.0% q/q

  • expected +5.0%, prior +20.1%

BRB with more, but in brief the strong showing for inventories diminishes the chance of a negative GDP print (data due on Wednesday).

Inventory is a direct input to the GDP figure, the rise today of 1.2% q/q should add in around 0.3 points. A point of concern, though, is the late March cyclone which reduced exports (a little, the impact will be great in the Q2 figures), product that may well have gone into inventory (so +inventory, -export effects). I reckon the impact of this will not be significant though because the cyclone effects were so late in the quarter. but, we'll get more clarity tomorrow when we get net export data.