Yep, you heard me right.

The Australian Institute of Petroleum’s figures reveal falls at the pump for the majority of consumers.

The big caveat is: for now.

That’s because the price of fuel lags the price of the crude oil product it’s refined from by some weeks. Overlaid on that is that there are price cycles in most capital cities, which largely don’t exist in regional markets.

Here are the most recent prices:

• Petrol: the national average retail petrol price fell by 2.2 cents last week to 174.2 cents per litre
• Petrol: the national weekly average ‘metropolitan’ retail petrol price fell by 3.7 cents last week to 174.1 cents per litre
• Petrol: the national weekly average ‘regional’ retail petrol price rose by 0.9 cents last week to 174.4 cents per litre
• Diesel: the national average retail diesel price rose by 0.6 cents last week to 178.4 cents per litre

The lag to the wholesale price in Singapore is now only about a fortnight, so it’s likely we’ll see rises in next week’s data.

Are we done?

Our inflation issue, which the Reserve Bank has attempted to rein in using interest rate hikes, might be done.

Here’s Alan Kohler.

Easy to get caught up in the predictions and movements of Australian equities. So grateful to Imre Speizer from Westpac’s economics team for an outlook of events beyond our shores.

NZ: September’s REINZ data is expected to report a further increase in house sales, albeit from current lows; however, a sizeable inventory of unsold homes will likely keep house price growth muted for now. RBNZ Dep. Gov. Hawkesby speaks on financial stability.

Eurozone: While a rebound in industrial production is anticipated in August (market f/c: 1.8%mth), the overall picture remains bleak, as evinced by worsening views on the growth outlook from the ZEW survey of expectations. The ECB’s Bank Lending Survey will also provide a timely update on financial conditions.

UK: The unemployment rate is set to hold at its current level in August, following two months of decline (market f/c: 4.1%). The gradual easing in average earnings growth suggests the labour market is slowly moving into balance (market f/c: 4.9%yr).

US: A brief port strike and bad weather are expected to drive a weaker result in the Fed Empire State index for October (market f/c: 3.6pts). The FOMC’s Daly and Waller are also due to speak.

In case you missed it yesterday, my colleague Kate Ainsworth has a great examination of land banking, something that has been a focus in the white-hot topic of supermarket dominance.

Woolworths owns more than 100 sites and that’s being scrutinised by Australia’s competition watchdog as it cracks down on anti-competitive behaviour and alleged land banking by Coles and Woolworths.

The practice, known as “land banking”, refers to the strategic purchasing of sites by the supermarket giants to prevent their competitors from setting up shop.

Out of the 165 undeveloped sites, the ACCC says two-thirds — or 110 blocks of land in total — are held by Woolworths, with 42 owned by Coles and 13 by Aldi.

Check it out here.

Hello everyone.

Daniel Ziffer from the ABC business unit.

Thanks for joining me on our week-daily business blog, where we’ll bring you the latest from the markets, finance and economics.

Overnight on Wall Street, US indices all lifted.

The blue-chip Dow Jones was the smallest boost, up +0.5%, while the broader S&P 500 rose +0.9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq a full percentage point, 1%.

The ASX 200 is looking like it will open higher off the back of that strong lead, with futures lifting +0.4% or +35-points to 8,319-points.

Get yourself started, Tuesday is on.

Loading