Australia: Weak economic data - TDS

Australia’s retail Sales for May rose 0.1%, a touch softer than the 0.2% consensus while in annual terms, retail sales rose 2.4%, down from the 2.8% pace in April.

Key Quotes

“Spending was mixed across categories, but on an ex-food basis, retail sales rose 0.4%/m. Weakness was broad based across the states. There was little market reaction to the data as it covered the election period.”

“Job Vacancies dropped 1.1% in the 3 months to May, the first decline since 2016. While public sector vacancies rose 3.8%/q (+7.7%/yr), it was the private sector that led the quarterly decline, -1.6% (+1.3%/yr). The slowing in job vacancies suggests employment growth should slow as the partial indicators have been suggesting. Today's outcome challenges the RBA's upbeat narrative on job vacancies as a signal of a firming labour market.”