The August retails sales data is here (please have a barf bag handy): Australia August Retail Sales: -0.6% m/m (vs. expected +0.3%)
The earliest indication I've seen for September is in the September PMI data out yesterday: Australia - AiG Performance of Services index: 52.1 (prior 53.0)
This from the report:
Reluctant consumer spending saw activity shrink at a faster rate in September in retail trade (43.1 points)
- while the index for the hospitality sub-sector (accommodation, cafes and restaurants) fell by 3.5 points to a record low of 35.7 points
TBH I don't know how good an indicator the PMI is for retail sales, so I'm only guessing that this early indicator is not positive for a bounce. At -0.6% m/m in August that is a pretty bad number - so September is not likely to be as bad ... just based on probability ... but that's about the best I reckon I can hope for!
M/M retail sales changes:
