At a time when many are negative about the retail sector, well known and respected financial commenter Peter Switzer is supporting the opposite view, with the release of strong retail figures in November.

Online and in-store sales grew by 1.2% in November, following a 0.5% increase in October, the best result in 4.5 years. All states and territories in the country recorded a gain.

After the initial shock of Amazon entering the market, Harvey Norman’s share price dropped to $3.65 in early November, only to recover with a 20%+ gain to $4.43.  

More positive economic statistics of late include:

•  Job vacancies – Strongest yearly growth rate in 7 years up 16.1%, with the three months to November recording a 2.7% rise to 210,300 vacancies.
•  Council approvals for new homes – Had the strongest monthly gain a year, growing by 11.7% in November, after a drop of 0.1% in October. 
• ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence – Last week saw growth of 4.7% to 122 which is a four-year high and substantially ahead of the long-range monthly average of 112.9.
•  New vehicle sales – Up 0.9% on a year ago with a record high of 1,189,116 units in 2017 (Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries). 
•   Occupied domestic flights – Occupied seats say the best result in 6 years, up to 79%. The Sydney-Melbourne load factor also saw record highs.
•  International passenger traffic – Saw total passenger numbers record 3.37 million in October, a 4.5% increase for the previous 12 months.  
•  Job advertisements – up 10.8% to the year in December.