Australia: Q2 retail strong; no cliff in July – ANZ

Analysts at Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) banking group provide their afterthoughts on the Australian Q2 Retail Sales released early Thursday.  

Key quotes

“Retail volumes rose 1.4% q/q in Q2 this year, despite very strong inflation (+1.7% q/q for retail products) and recession-level consumer confidence.”

“Dining/takeaway volumes grew 8.6% q/q, department store volumes grew 3.0% q/q and clothing grew 3.9% q/q, both building on strong Q1 growth and casting doubt on whether a discretionary spending squeeze is in progress so far.“

“ANZ-observed spending for July has not fallen off a cliff, with discretionary spending categories such as non-food retail, dining/takeaway and travel excluding petrol showing continued momentum.”