Trade deficit, retail sales and unemployment at multi-year highs in September - Retail sales logged their largest month-on-month jump since February last year...

Trade deficit, retail sales and unemployment at multi-year highs in September - Retail sales logged their largest month-on-month jump since February last year in September with an increase of 1.2% reported. The reading was well above the 0.1% gain of August and expectations for a rise of 0.3%. While an impressive headline result, the ABS revealed that the largest contributor to the increase was household goods retailing (+4.1%) with the electronic goods sub-component surging 9.2%. While not completely definitive, if you're looking at your iPhone 6 screen reading this, your purchase, along with that of many others, likely contributed significantly to the increase. The ABS estimates that this one item alone contributed around half of the monthly retail gain. Thanks to the surprise in September retail sales for the quarter, adjusted for inflationary effects, rose 1.0%. (VIEW LINK)