AUD: Soft retail sales, sharp jump in consumer sentiment - TDS

Analysts at TDS note the sharp jump in Australian consumer sentiment from 113.4 to 120.1 for the week ending Jan 8th.

Key Quotes

“The long run average is 114.2 with the all time high of 124.2 in late 2013. Let’s see whether the jump last week translates into buoyant post Christmas sales.”

“Retail Sales for Nov rose +0.2%/m, softer than TD’s (+0.3%) and the market forecast (+0.4%).  We would not read too much into today’s release as it is dated with the market likely to place more emphasis on anecdotes and flows in the lead up and post Christmas period.  If we assume Dec retail sales comes in at +0.3%/m, this would put real retail sales close to +1% for the Dec qtr, a good outcome considering the –0.1% drop in the Sep qtr.”