High household debt and slow wage growth have been a negative for spending ... and another miss on the data today
Australia January Retail Sales +0.1% m/m .... yuck!, awful miss. At least its better than than the December result
- expected +0.4% and prior -0.5%
I suspect we'll hear some 'season adjustment measures are all messed up' ecplanations to cushion the blow. But .... for me .... this data fits with the background (see first lines in this post)
For the y/y, up 2.1% .... weak
Paradoxically (to me anyway) ... despite weak spending, cafes and restaurants spending continues to outperform.
For background to this:
