← Go back Dec 12, 2023
Will we get good news about our housing crisis today? Data on building approvals will be released at 11.30am AEDT, giving us an insight into whether the increased demand has kick-started construction on desperately needed dwellings. Follow the day's financial news and insights from our specialist business reporters on our live blog. To leave a comment on the blog, please log in or By Daniel Ziffer Did the Cyber Friday sales boost retail, or did they just bring forward money people were going to spend before Christmas anyway? That's the looming question for retailers, looking at what they brought in and wondering about what kind of festive season they'll be having after absorbing deep discounts on some key products. Deloitte Access Economics partner David Rumbens crunched yesterday's backwards-looking National Accounts data and has some thoughts. Despite this, after three consecutive quarters of retail decline, there was some reprieve – Sales volumes rose by 0.2% on June quarter levels, thanks in part to retailers taking matters into their own hands with extensive discounting". Don't worry, it gets grimmer. "The current restrictions on consumer wallets have created nationwide hesitancy to spend on discretionary items to prioritise essential spending. Such consumer behaviour has led to a substantial gap between food and non-food retail sales growth in recent quarters. Over the year to September 2023, food sales in real terms have increased by 0.6%, while non food retail sales have declined by 4.2%. As in, cost of living pressure are now so substantial - particularly housing costs - that people are cutting back on food spending to meet those other key commitments: the mortgage/rent and the fuel needed to get to work. But he sees good news ahead: " "The business cycle is expected to turn in 2024, which is shaping up to be a brighter year for retailers. Consumer spending is expected to rise, thanks to real wage growth, strong population growth, as well an expected turn in the interest rate cycle. As a result, we expect real retail sales growth to rise steadily through the upcoming year: lifting from -0.9% in calendar year 2023 to 1.4% in 2024, and then on to 2.2% growth in 2025." By Daniel Ziffer Every quarter, the GDP figures puts some data around what we've probably already been feeling. The rear-vision-mirror data measures Gross Domestic Product, the value of all the goods and services produced in a certain time-frame. In this case it's the year and quarter (three months) to September 2023. My colleague Michael Janda has a great take on why it is so important, and what the figures tell us about why people feel so stretched and why there's so much financial pain around. By Daniel Ziffer ASX 200 futures: -0.3% to 7,188 points Australian dollar: Flat at 65.48 US cents S & P 500: -0.15% to 4,560 points Nasdaq: -0.2% to 14,201 points FTSE: +0.3% to 7,515points EuroStoxx50: +0.7% to 4,483 points Spot gold: +0.4% to $US2,027/ounce Brent crude: -3.6% to $US74.44 a barrel Iron ore: +2.2% to $US131.85 a tonne Bitcoin: +0.2% to $AU67,153 Live updates on the major ASX indices: By Daniel Ziffer Good morning! Daniel Ziffer from the ABC business team with you here on the blog. Data on building approvals will be released at 11.30am AEDT, giving us an insight into whether the increased demand has kick-started construction on desperately needed dwellings. Wall Street was flat overnight. The blue-chip the and the . I was at the Foo Fighters gig in Melbourne last night until really late, so I'm going to get a coffee so I can get the best of me to deliver the Best of You.
Read more: abc_net
