Retail sales fall in April

Wednesday, 30 May 2012

April retail sales are in and fell 0.2% month on month, well below consensus of a 0.2% rise. March was revised up 0.2% to 1.1%. The internals were uniformly weak with only food and eating out eking out growth:

So, more evidence of an April freeze in the household sector, with some hope apparent in food.

About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.