The retail sales data is here, a m/m beat but they are weak data:
I posted this graph from the Australian Bureau of Statistics :
Sales are flat from six months ago, and in real terms down, and that's accelerated in the last 3 months, down 2% since November.
Retail sales are an indicator the Reserve Bank of Australia is looking at to gauge the impact of rising rates on domestic demand. The data today adds to the case for a pause in the rate hike cycle at the April 4 meeting.
Of even more importance are inflation data. Tomorrow, Wednesday, 29 March 2023 local time (11.30 am, which is 0030 GMT and 8.30pm on Tuesday 28 March 2023 US Eastern time) we get monthly CPI data from Australia. The monthly data is a placeholder ahead of the quarterly CPI. We don't get the next quarterly data until April 29 so tomorrow's will be of note for the RBA, at least as an indication. The January (month) CPI gave the RBA some encouragement, suggesting that inflation has peaked (although its still very high and more than twice the upper level of the target rate of 2 to 3%):
