Key Points
- The value of retail sales rose 1.2% mom in June, much stronger than the market’s expectation of a 0.4% mom rise.
Excluding motor vehicles sales and services, sales rose 1.0% mom.
- Over Q2 as a whole, the value of total retail sales increased 2.3% qoq while the retail trade deflator rose 1.0% qoq
(and was 4.7% higher than a year earlier).
- As a result, the volume of retail sales – representing around 40% of private consumption – rose 1.3% qoq to be 2.4%
higher than a year earlier. The median market expectation was for a 1.2% qoq increase.
- Excluding motor vehicle sales and services, retail sales volumes also rose 1.3% qoq to be 2.9% higher than a year
earlier.
- Strong growth in tourism and the recovery the housing market likely contributed to the robust result. Growth in food
retailing accounted for around 60% of overall growth, rising 2.3% qoq. Other notable increases occurred in appliance
retailing (+3.1% qoq), hardware (+3.4% qoq), department stores (+4.1% qoq) and motor vehicle retailing (+1.8% qoq).
- On a regional basis, strong growth was recorded more-or-less across the country, with the Wellington Regional Council
Area the only exception (although Wellington recorded very strong growth in Q1). This provides further evidence that the
recovery in domestic demand is broadening.
- Retailers’ stock-to-sales ratio remained at very comfortable levels.
Commentary
- The first key GDP partial printed stronger than our expectations. Thus we continue to think that overall economic
activity grew by around 1.0% qoq in Q2, if not marginally stronger (we find it easy to justify estimates as high as 1.3%
qoq) .
- As we have argued for some time, household spending was always likely to benefit from a combination of robust consumer
confidence, strong growth in employment, rising wage settlements, rapid growth in farm incomes and a gradual recovery in
the housing market.
- The rise in June was stronger than credit card billings had suggested and provides a good base for another 1% qoq
increase in volumes in Q3.
- As we have noted before, the RBNZ faces a dilemma as it weighs up the evidence in advance of its next review of
monetary policy settings on 15 August.
- On the one hand, the domestic economy shows unmistakable signs of strengthening from a starting point of little excess
capacity (indeed, labour market indicators suggest the economy is operating beyond its sustainable capacity, and this
has begun to be reflected in higher wage settlements). We think that the RBNZ’s concerns about the level of momentum in
the economy – raised by the weak Q1 GDP result – have been convincingly dismissed.
- On the other hand, aside from in Australia, global data remains very mixed and the forecast recovery remains just that
– a forecast. This poses potential downside risks to economic activity and inflation at some point in the future.
- On balance, we continue to think that the RBNZ will give greater weight to the concrete evidence from strong domestic
data and the consequent inflation risks, and therefore refrain from easing further on 15 August. With two further
opportunities left this year to shift rates downward if needed, we see little imperative to ease policy at this point.
- We think that the chance of a further 25bps cut on 15 August is no higher than 25% and that probability may well be
reduce further tomorrow if, as we expect, HLFS data corroborate the strong Q2 labour market outcome suggested by last
week’s Quarterly Employment Survey.
- We continue to think that the next move in interest rate settings will be a hike, most likely at the time of the March
2002 Monetary Policy Statement.
Retail Trade Summary
Nom.
Sales
qoq%
yoy% Real Sales qoq% yoy% Retail
Deflator
qoq%
Q4 99 1.5 6.6 1.0 5.7 0.5
Q1 00 0.9 6.1 0.1 4.5 0.8
Q2 00 1.2 6.4 0.6 4.1 0.6
Q3 00 1.9 5.6 0.0 1.6 1.9
Q4 00 0.9 5.0 -0.4 0.2 1.3
Q1 01 1.9 6.0 1.5 1.7 0.3
Q2 01 2.3 7.2 1.3 2.4 1.0