Flash PMI gives RBA reason to hike

Thursday 23 April 2026

The flash PMI is out, and it has stabilised.

Flash Australia Composite PMI Output Index: 50.1 Index, sa, >50 = growth m/m % qr/qr (Mar: 46.6)
Flash Australia Services PMI Business Activity Index: 50.3 (Mar: 46.3)
Flash Australia Manufacturing PMI: 51.0 (Mar: 49.8)
Flash Australia Manufacturing PMI Output Index: 48.2 (Mar: 49.4)

After a month of decline in March, the start of the second quarter saw business activity levels stabilise across Australia, according to April Flash PMI® data by S&P Global. However, the recovery in activity was confined to the service sector as manufacturing output was down for a third month running.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.