According to Newshub today, Christmas sales are bust: "Orr warned Kiwis to be prudent with their spending this Christmas. It appears that message has got through". A Westpac survey has found "the number of households who believe it is a good time to make a major purchase has fallen to a record low .. Those subdued spending appetites point to some soggy spending numbers over the Christmas shopping period" . Yes, those Big Bank economists are at it again, receiving never-ending free publicity courtesy of our mainstream media upon releasing such "informed" surveys.
Meanwhile, in the real world, at the very same time & very same day, "Newmarket retail boss Mark Knoff-Thomas "says there is a record Christmas spend-up". As tens of thousands of shoppers descended on Newmarket on the last full weekend of Christmas shopping, the local retail boss was cock-a-hoop. “This is the Christmas Auckland retailers deserve,” said Knoff-Thomas. “As we approach Christmas, we’ve seen an increase in volumes of customers heading to Westfield centres across NZ”. Retailers right across the spectrum are reporting strong sales with lifestyle apparel, homeware, department stores selling strongly and small giftware stores spiking at this time of the year. Hospitality has also rebounded strongly.”
Yes, its bust .. and boom .. at the same time. Westpac economists, along with Central Bank Chief Orr, are getting excited waiting for the "engineered" recession to happen, which their fancy models & statistical surveys are telling us is on the way - meanwhile on Main Street, the tills are clinking. My view is that it's unlikely there will be a recession next year, even though the Reserve Bank is desperate to talk us into one.
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