Today’s retail sales and building figures show an economy picking up, just as the RBA has been trying to engineer, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane.
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RETAIL SPENDING
No pick-up in retail last year, backing RBA case
New data from the ABS contains no good news for retailers, with sluggish trade for December and the last quarter of 2012. The RBA’s economic assessment yesterday seems about right.
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As High St dies, it’s time to build a new main street
Downtown is dying, in America and and now in the UK with news of the collapse of retailers Jessops and HMV. Crikey’s man-at-large writes from London on why it’s time to rethink our city planning.
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Click frenzy, profit wait for local retailers
Australia’s big retailers are trying to jump on the Click Frenzy bandwagon, while Target is still fighting to make a profit online. The numbers for many simply don’t add up.
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Kohler: a new breed of retail letter bomb
The next wave of online retailing, far more dangerous for traditional store retailers than the first wave, is now upon us.
READ MOREConsumer sentiment up and no one’s pinched the punch bowl
Are Australians sulking because someone took away the punch bowl and we are feeling poorer?
READ MORENew retail figures to send message to Reserve Bank
No sign of any joy for retailers from the latest sales data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which showed a rise of just 0.2% in February.
READ MORESlew of data shows an economy in transition — right where the RBA wants it
The Australian economy is right where the Reserve Bank wants it to be. Forget the rate-cut talk ahead of next Tuesday’s March RBA meeting.
READ MOREPlenty of light in the doom-and-gloom retail figures
The headline fall of 0.1% in the seasonally adjusted value of retail sales for December got the “rate cut looms” mob back on the hunt this morning.
READ MOREGST push on overseas purchases least of retail’s woes
The push by some Australian retailers for the government to apply GST on overseas retail purchases continues in earnest, despite the cost of the proposals.
READ MOREEssential: early election out, but Labor brand still toxic
There’s been a marked fall in support for an early election in the wake of the Gillard government shoring up its parliamentary numbers as the political year draws to a close.
READ MOREConsumers open wallets wider, so why do we need to cut rates?
Can anyone explain why the Reserve Bank needs to cut interest rates, as quite a few economists, media writers and industry leaders say it will, either next month, or December?
READ MORERetail figures a bit like Goldilocks, not too hot, not too cold
Bad news for all the retailing gloomsters, the sector isn’t the basket case that they all claim it is.
READ MOREGloom? Consumers are saving, but they are spending too
Some of the country’s leading economists and business analysts can’t see a boom for the gloom that they are preaching and writing about.
READ MOREOnline won’t destroy retail, it’ll give us money to spend locally
Online shopping is, for the first time, allowing Australians to access a genuinely competitive marketplace and the result is customers making big savings, writes Richard Denniss, executive director of The Australia Institute.
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Gottliebsen: hurtling towards a retail cliff
Non-food retailing, which employs 800,000 Australians, is in deep trouble, writes Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator.
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Kohler: Gillard’s incurable retail affliction
Relations between the federal government and business are as bad as they’ve been for 40 years, and it’s not just because of the proposed carbon tax.
READ MOREBartholomeusz: planning a Woolworths honeymoon
Michael Luscombe would be reasonably satisfied with Woolworths’ performance, in the circumstances, as he prepares to hand over responsibility for the retailer to Grant O’Brien.
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More evidence of an Artic without ice
The Arctic Ocean is on the way to becoming nearly ice-free in summer within this century, most likely within the next thirty to forty years.
READ MOREABS reports suggest that retail is doing it tough
The damage to the retailing sector from the sluggish spending in the closing months of 2010 was underlined in a trio of reports this morning.
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A grim set of numbers
You have to wonder whether the Reserve Bank has grievously overdone it with its interest rate rises this year.
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Scroogenomics: Why you shouldn’t buy presents
Tight arses rejoice! Christmas may be around the corner but don’t splurge on unwanted gifts to boost the retail sector. Economist Joel Waldfogel says dead weight crap presents are a drain on the economy.
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Clothes maketh the retail industry
Clothing retailers have taken a battering this year, but niche segments — like online stores and men’s fashion — are growing and IBISWorld predict a growth rate of 2.9% for the industry.
READ MOREIs the recession really making us better people?
Nope, says Derek Thompson; we’re not spending less due to sudden epiphanies about altruism and the true value of money — we’re just broke.
READ MOREAmericans’ wallets glued shut
Ordinary Americans stopped spending in the September quarter, dragging the US economy to the brink of recession as growth contracted by 0.3, writes Glenn Dyer.
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