The Australian Financial Review with a piece on falling car sales and what it means for the economic outlook

  • new vehicle sales last month down 7.4 per cent compared with November 2017
  • This was the eighth consecutive month when new-car sales had been below the corresponding month of 2017

We're concerned that the economy is peeling off at a faster rate than the people in Canberra realise," says David Blackhall, chief executive of the Australian Automotive Dealer Association,

  • "It's a wealth effect that is quite significant and serious," he says."People's perception of wealth is a big influence when it comes to discretionary spending, particularly on big-ticket items."

Link

The article goes on with descriptions of weakness in retail elsewhere and concludes with comments from Capital Economics

  • "Household spending isn't falling off a cliff just yet, but we still think that the downturn in the housing market will restrain consumption growth before long"