Oil price retreats
Some welcome news on the inflation front as some more of the sting comes out of oil prices, down by more than 5 per cent today to the lowest levels we've seen since January.
Weak China data was the explanation for today’s plunge.
This downturn has been reflected in some good news for fuel prices in Queensland.
There's a bit of a sting in the tail here, though, with the fuel excise cut of 22.1 cents per litre due to expire at the end of September.
There's a similar trend afoot in the US, with gas prices falling to a 5-month low of $3.95/gallon.
The US dollar weakened a bit today against the Aussie on soft business conditions, manufacturing, and other data (1 Aussie dollar is now buying just over 70 US cents).
Hopefully this won't hurt either, putting a little bit of further downward pressure on domestic inflation.
