Clothes, home goods slip down the list as shoppers spend on essentials

Meanwhile, CommBank Household Spending Intentions data released on Tuesday showed consumers had plans to cut back on spending on health, entertainment and travel. The bank found overall retail spending intentions were down 0.6 per cent in June, while plans to spend on travel were down 2.5 per cent for the month, or 7.9 per cent for the year.

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Equities analysts have already started to anticipate a tough company earnings season for the retail sector in August, with expectations that brands selling fashion, consumer electronics and home goods will reveal that conditions continue to soften.

UBS analysts issued earnings downgrades for a range of discretionary retailers last month, moving Smiggle operator Premier Investments and Rebel owner Super Retail Group to “sell” ratings, and lowering its earnings expectations for Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Lovisa and Universal Store.

“In addition to avoiding big ticket retailers [like Harvey Norman], we also avoid retailers that sell to middle Australia or that have been beneficiaries of a more exuberant consumer during COVID,” UBS analysts said in a note to clients.

National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey for June released on Tuesday showed that business conditions steadied in June and remained at above long-term average levels, while the bank’s measure of business confidence bounced by three points.

However, the numbers also showed continued rising costs for operators, with labour costs growing at 2.6 per cent for the quarter, while purchase costs were up by 2.3 per cent.

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