ONLY CHARTS #243

Aus retail trade, Aus international trade, NZ for sale home listings, NZ population growth, China CPI

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1. Nominal retail trade in Australia rose +0.8% m/m in November (mkt: +1% m/m).

While the increase in sales didn’t meet economist expectations, this may reflect larger-than-usual discounting amid sales events in November. The ABS noted that there was “discounting seen across clothing items, furniture, electrical goods and cosmetics”.

The passage of time should also be improving the seasonal adjustment of spending during November sales events. While there could be a measured decline in retail sales in December, it may be less pronounced than in recent years if seasonal adjustment is getting better at smoothing out spending.

Nominal retail sales trended higher through 2024.

2. Nominal household goods retailing rose a solid +0.6% m/m, led higher by a 2% m/m rise in furniture & housewares sales (we’d note, however, that CPI inflation for these categories has recently been robust).

Somewhat surprisingly, sales of electronics & electrical goods dipped 0.2% m/m in November. This may partly reflect discounting and it follows two consecutive strong increases.