Highlights:
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Equities traded in a relative tight range in August but finished modestly higher.
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Crude oil prices recovered 7.5% on talks of possible production freezes from OPEC and non-OPEC countries when they meet in late September.
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China economic data was a little softer with declines in industrial production and retail sales growth.
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US economic data was somewhat mixed. The July non-farm payrolls figure was better than expected which lead US Federal Reserve officials to begin talking about further interest rate rises.
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Economic data in Europe was a little softer with the core annual inflation rate slipping from 0.9% to 0.8% in August.
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Australia’s economy grew at the strongest annual rate in four years with growth of 3.3% year-on-year in the June quarter. However, household consumption growth was weaker while government spending much stronger than in the prior quarter.
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