Australia Jan retail trade to reverse most of the previous fall - ANZ

Analysts at ANZ offer a brief preview of the Australian retail sales data for January that will be published at 0030 GMT tomorrow alongside the current account data and ahead of the RBA rate statement.

Key Quotes:

“We expect January retail trade reversed most of the previous month's fall.

Retail spending has been volatile in recent months, partly reflecting the changing pattern of sales (with Boxing Day sales perhaps less of a key event given Black Friday/Cyber Monday and discounting through December).

A result in line with our expectation would see retail sales rise by 2.6% y/y, a slight acceleration from December. The combination of lower petrol prices, stabilizing house prices and a solid rise in consumer confidence suggests a reasonable start to 2018 for consumers.”