Australia's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate reached a six-month high of 4% in April and May. In addition, Australia's retail sales grew faster month over month from 0.1% to 0.6%, while the country's jobless rate dropped from 4.1% to 4%. But this is not good news in the United States. Inflation in Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) in the US dropped to 2.6%, the lowest level in three months, while the jobless rate increased to 4% from 3.9%. In addition, for the second consecutive month, US retail sales that do not include vehicles decreased by 0.1%.
The minutes of the RBA's June 18 meeting revealed that, despite keeping the cash rate goal at 4.35%, a rate hike would be considered in light of inflationary risks. On the other hand, the probability of a September rate drop by the Federal Reserve has increased from 50% to 70% according to the futures market.
Despite the pressures of rising costs of living, a number of Australian businesses have experienced impressive development. The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) best performance for the fiscal year 2023–24 was Pro Medicus, a producer of medical imaging software. Since the start of the epidemic four years ago, the company's stock price has climbed 7.9 times, or more than twice, in the last year. Pro Medicus' share price rose by 118.3% to AUD 143.26, compared to S&P/ASX200 with broader fields only having an increase of 7.8% in index. Even though there is a huge increase, it is still lower than the rise in Australian housing prices which is 8.4%.
ProMedicus has seen remarkable performance, which CommSec analyst Steven Daghlian attributes to expansion in the US market, solid financial results, and new contracts with radiologists, hospitals, and medical centers. Pro Medicus' share price has increased by almost 679% since March 2020, going from AUD 16.62 to AUD 129.41. Four years ago, an investment of AUD $1,000 would be worth over AUD 7,790; ten years ago, an investment of AUD 100,000 would have increased to AUD 13.62 million.
Gold miners also fared well, with West African Resources' price rising by 86.1% to AUD 1.61 and Red5's share price rising by 89.5% to AUD 0.36. Gold prices rose by more than 20% last year, drawing in investors looking to protect themselves against severe global inflation.
The share price of Australian engineering software business Altium increased by 84.3% to AUD 68.03.
The largest mining firm in the world, BHP, has announced a cut in employee bonuses worldwide as a result of internal performance criteria pertaining to gender equality, safety, costs, and output that were not met. Thousands of employees have received notice from the corporation that, for the 2023–24 fiscal year, they will only get 80% of their short-term incentives.
Because of a tragic mining accident at the Saraji mine and downgrades in sales guidance, employees in BHP's Queensland coal division will see even larger layoffs. The bonus reduction are blamed for failing to meet productivity and cost targets as well as gender equality objectives. In order to attain gender parity by 2025, BHP set a lofty goal in 2016 that called for a 3% increase in the number of female employees. Although women made up 35.2% of the workforce as of June 30 of last year, the business fell short of its internal growth goals for the fiscal year 2023–2024.
Higher mining volumes and deeper mining requirements have been observed across BHP's global investment portfolio, which includes the copper-rich Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, despite the company meeting its own goals for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. This has led to a substantial impairment of BHP's Western Australian nickel operations, contributing to a statutory half-year profit drop to a low of USD 927 million.
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