The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Pls Explain Koukie: Aussie Retail Sales Grew at 7% pa pace over July + August

Oops. Turns out that Australians have spent strongly in the last two months at a pace above the historical average since 2000. This is more in line with the Q2 GDP data, which showed trend consumption growth, and is what I expect to see continue given the tremendous depreciation in the Aussie dollar. The latter makes offshore spending far less attractive to the benefit of local retailers. So much for the retail recession and the dire need to cut Aussie interest rates...

at 12:05 PM