Australia retail sales rose 0.9% mom in November, seasonally adjusted, above expectation of 0.4% mom. “We have seen strong growth in Black Friday sales, both in areas such as electrical goods and online sales, but also in areas such as clothing and furniture,” said Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys. “While seasonal adjustment removes regular seasonal patterns associated with Black Friday based on prior results, the strong seasonally adjusted rises in a number of sub-groups this month shows that the impact of this Black Friday exceeded that of previous years.”
AiG Performance of Services Index dropped sharply to 48.7 in December, down from 53.7. Among the three business-oriented sectors, finance & insurance reported positive results, logistics (wholesale trade, transport & storage) was stable, while business & property services contracted. Among the three consumer-oriented sectors, ‘retail trade & hospitality’ and ‘personal, recreational and other services’ reported positive conditions while ‘health, education & community services’ contracted slightly in December.
