Australian data – September Retail Sales +0.9% m/m (vs. +0.3% expected)

A huge beat on expectations for September retail sales from Australia.

+0.9% m/m

• expected +0.3%, prior +0.2%
• all categories performing strongly

Another data point that’ll surely add to the case for a Reserve Bank of Australia rate hike at next week’s policy meeting (on the 7th November).

Australian Bureau of Statistics comments:

• the rise in September was the largest since January
• subdued spending for most of 2023 means that underlying growth in Retail turnover remains historically low
• Retail turnover in trend terms is up only 1.5 per cent compared to September 2022 – the smallest trend growth over 12 months in the history of the series.