Australian online retail sales plunged in February, bolstering fears about the health of household spending.
The National Australia Bank’s Online Retail Sales Index slumped by 3.4% during the month in seasonally adjusted terms, the largest monthly decline on record, according to Business Insider Australia. The annual growth in online trade also slowed to 0.5 percent.
“It appears that broader weakness in retail is flowing through to online,” said Alan Oster, Chief Economist at the NAB.
Australia’s official retail sales report, scheduled for release at 00:30 tomorrow, is expected to show that consumer spending rose 0.2 percent month-on-month in February, following a 0.1 percent in January.
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