Australia - Retail Sales for May come in ahead of expectations at 0.6% but lower than for April

  • expected +0.2% m/m, prior +1%

That is a solid beat for this data point.

More:

  • Trend estimate +0.3% m/m and +3.2% y/y

(via ABS)

The following industries rose in trend terms:

  • Food Retailing (0.3%), Household goods retailing (0.5%), Other retailing (0.5%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.4%), and Department stores (0.4%).

Falls:

  • Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (-0.3%) fell in trend terms in May 2017.

A fairly broad-based gain for retailing on the month. Stick this together with other indications and the RBA would have be getting happier on the economy's performance.

Check out the y/y result, best in more than a year:

AUD response is up a few ticks. It did pop above 0.7675 but has come back:

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Coming up later from Australia, RBA announcement & statement (due 0430GMT):

  • Opposite views on the RBA today - 'bulls beware' & 'AUD ... can move higher'
  • Westpac preview
  • UBS note on what to expect from RBA
  • HSBC preview