Retail sales figures have been lacklustre for the past couple of years but in 2018 the annual growth rate showed some signs of stabilising, albeit at a low rate. Recent months’ figures have been generally in line with or above market expectations. However, they have not been high enough to change a common view amongst economists of a household sector under pressure from high debt levels and low rates of income growth.
According to the latest ABS figures, total retail sales increased by +0.4% over November on a seasonally-adjusted basis, in line with the expected figure and an increase from October’s +0.3%. However, on an annual basis, retail sales increased by only 2.8%, a lower figure than the 3.6% annual rate recorded for October.
Local bond yields finished the day largely unchanged. By the end of the day, the yield on 3-year ACGBs remained unchanged at 1.80%, while 10-year yields had slipped 1bp to 2.31% and 20-year ACGBs had edged up 1bp to 2.69%.