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Australian retail sales: running on empty
The September retail report disappointed in every respect. Monthly sales showed another weak gain, up just 0.2%, and real retail sales contracted 0.1% in the quarter to be down –0.2%yr, the first annual contraction since the early 1990s recession. The consensus forecast was for a 0.4% gain in the month and a 0.3% rise for the quarter. The monthly profile continues to show little or no response to policy measures – interest rate cuts in June-July and tax relief from July should have added about $3bn to monthly household disposable incomes. With retail sales running at $27bn a month, even a small flow on impact to ... (full story)