have not dampened households’ enthusiasm for opening their wallets, with new data showing Australians spent a record $34.7 billion at stores in July.
The July figure marked the reversal of a gradual slowdown in monthly spending growth that began in February. “Momentum in retail sales looked to be faltering over the last few months, but today’s data are ahead of expectations and suggest household spending remains resilient to mounting headwinds,” Mr Langcake said.Markets are tipping the RBA will increase rates by another 50 basis points next week to 2.35 per cent and the cash rate is forecast to hit 3.2 per cent by the end of the year.
“Between August and December this interest rate impact quadruples based on the already announced policy changes. This impact will lift again depending on what the RBA does to the cash rate in September and beyond,” Ms Allen said.