Australian February retail sales come in above expected at +1.8% m/m

Australian Retail Sales for February +1.8% m/m

• expected 1.0% m/m, prior 1.8%
• for the y/y +6.7%

Some of the Australian commercial banks had higher than consensus forecasts based on proprietary data. WPAC, for example were at +1.5% based on card spending tracking data they have.

February seems such a long time ago ... It was a month of continued emergence from COVID-19 restrictions in Australia. This helped boost retail activity.