Australia's Economy Is Cracking

Global mining giant Rio Tinto has said more job cuts are coming to Australia, thanks to slack demand for commodities.

Meanwhile, the latest data is poor.

Retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.4% for the Month of March, significantly worse than the 0.1% rise that analysts had expected.

A measure of available jobs also was weak, with ads falling 1.3% in April, an acceleration from a 0.5% decline in March.

Also on Monday, a major homebuilder slashed demand estimates, and announced job cuts.

Australia has famously gone a long time without a recession, and there's a debate about whether this is due to China's multi-decade boom, or due to good monetary policy. The country is getting tested again.

(Via Ulas Akincilar)