Newly released Australian company profits and workers' wages from the last three months of 2018 have been perceived as weak by analysts while the associated data on inventories sprung a surprise.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' fourth-quarter business indicators on Monday showed gross operating profits rose 0.8 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, while wages and salaries also grew by 0.8 per cent for the same period.
The value of inventories held by Australian businesses in the last quarter fell 0.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, defying market expectations of a 0.3 per cent increase.
The business indicators come ahead of the central bank's meeting on monetary policy on Tuesday, when the Reserve Bank is expected to hold rates at a record low 1.5 per cent yet again.
But analysts say the numbers point to a lower than expected GDP outcome for the quarter, which could mean the RBA's growth forecasts are overly optimistic and put pressure on the bank to cut the cash rate further down the line.
The inventories result "equates to a neutral contribution to GDP growth, against our expectation of a 0.3 per cent-point addition," JP Morgan said in a note.
ANZ Research said Monday's figures "suggest downside risk to our forecast for a rise of 0.2 per cent in Q4 GDP" and "raise the prospect that GDP could print negative in the quarter" .
The full details of GDP for the December quarter will be released on Wednesday.
Company profits overall were buoyed by higher commodity prices, with mining profits up four per cent in the quarter.
The financial and insurance services sector showed a 26.6 per cent slump in profit during a period in which major lenders were forced to make costly provisions to cover the cost of customer remediation related to the royal commission.
Media and telecommunications profits for the three months fell 7.8 per cent, while profits in the rental, hiring and real estate services fell 1.3 cent.
The 0.8 per cent rise in wages and salaries was the smallest quarterly increase since the March quarter 2017 and researchers expect the GDP measure of average wages to be weak.
