A surprise 0.6 percent decrease in monthly retail sales could convince the Reserve Bank of Australia to hold off on an interest rate hike. The decline in May’s retail sales marked the largest drop in seven months and came as a bit of a shock to analysts expecting a 0.3 percent increase.
“The softness was across sectors and regions, so there’s little sign of the pick-up in economic momentum that the RBA was expecting,” said Brian Redican of Macquarie Bank. “The consumer clearly doesn’t need any more encouragement from the RBA to stay on the sidelines. It lessens the need for another hike.”
Source: BBC News
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