Australian retail sales data for August 2023 come in at +0.2% m/m, a miss
- expected +0.3%, prior +0.5%
The Reserve Bank of Australia began an an aggressive rate hike campaign in May 2022 and have only just relented in the past 3 months. Higher rates have played a part in sapping consumer confidence and contributing to weaker household spending. the Bank has been trying to claw inflation back towards target, and they are;t close to doing so yet. Higher (rates) for longer applies in Australia as well as elsewhere as inflation has proven itself to be sticky. Earlier this week we got the monthly CPI report for August with the trimmed mean core measure unchanged at 5.6%. Sticky indeed.
RBA cash rate target since May '22:
