Australia Retail Sales Mom

Retail sales in Australia declined by 1.8 percent month-over-month in June 2021, unrevised from the preliminary reading and after a final 0.4 percent gain a month earlier. This was the first drop in retail trade since February, impacted heavily by stay-at-home orders for multiple states and territories, with the largest falls seen in cafes, restaurants, and takeaway services (-6.0 percent vs 0.7 percent in May), clothing, footwear, and personal accessory retailing (-9.5 percent vs flat reading), and department stores (-7.0 percent vs -0.7 percent). Other retailing (-1.6 percent vs 0.7 percent), and household goods retailing (-1.3 percent vs -1.1 percent) also fell. Food retailing (1.5 percent vs 1.1 percent) was the only industry to rise as ongoing and re-introduced coronavirus restrictions required households to substitute eating out for eating at home. For the June quarter, retail trade grew by 0.8 percent, reversing from a 0.5 percent fall in the first quarter.