Before the omicron outbreak, retail sales were at an all-time high.
Retail sales climbed to a record $33 billion in November before the omicron virus epidemic hampered consumption.
As the economy reopened following lengthy lockdowns in NSW and Victoria, shaped consumer demand was unleashed during the pre-Christmas and Black Friday sales periods.
Retail sales increased by 7.3 percent in November, indicating that the economy was on the mend before being hampered by staff shortages and a decrease in consumer expenditure early in the new year as a result of the COVID-19 omicron virus outbreak.
Clothing, footwear, and personal accessories retailing (up 38.2 percent), domestic goods merchandising (up 11.6 percent), and department stores (up 26.0 percent) all set new sales records in November, according to ABS. All figures have been corrected for the season.
Although the sales figures were modified for seasonality, November sales have been increasing in previous years as a result of big retailers’ more popular Black Friday discounts.
Spending Retail before Omicron:
After being confined up in lockdown fighting the Delta form of the coronavirus, Australians embarked on a spending binge in the last months of 2021.
However, with the country now submerged in the Omicron infection, there are already signs that the spending spree is winding down.
This week, the Department Of statistics will reveal its first data of the year, notably retail sales for November, which will be released on Tuesday.
Economists forecast another good result of approximately 5%, building on the 4.9 percent growth in October when NSW, Victoria, and the ACT all came out of lengthy lockdowns.
The market of Australia after Omicron:
The Australian stock market closed lower on Monday, November 29, 2021, following Wall Street’s sharply negative indications on Friday, which were fueled by concerns about the economic impact of the Omicron coronavirus type. The verification of two cases of the new variant in Sydney has also raised concerns.
The confirmation of two cases of the novel variety in Sydney has further fuelled fears. Following the announcement of some encouraging corporate profits and company inventories data, the market recovered from its early sharp losses.
Woodside Petroleum and Origin Energy both lost about 2% of their value, while Oil Search and Santos both lost more than 1% of their value. Beach Energy is dropping by nearly 1%.
Travel stocks fell on Monday, extending to Friday’s losses, following news of travel prohibitions from several nations in response to the spread of the COVID 19 virus in South Africa. Emirates Airlines has lost 2% of its value.
CURRENCY LATEST NEWS: The Australian dollar traded at $0.7136, down from $0.725, where it was last week.
How Omicron has taken down the Australian economy:
The surge in Omicron infections has disrupted supply lines and delayed the economy’s recovery in Australia’s most populated state, New South Wales, which saw its bloodiest day of the pandemic on Wednesday.
Labor shortages and apprehension about appearing in public places have restricted household spending, according to ANZ, with expenditure in early January mirroring lockdown circumstances in Australia’s two main cities, Sydney and Melbourne.
The economy had been recovering fairly well before the Omicron pandemic occurred during the Christmas season. As coronavirus lockdowns were lifted in November, employment increased significantly quicker than projected, and retail sales increased for the second month in a row.
In response to criticism over his management of the Omicron epidemic at the start of an election year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has proposed easing isolation restrictions for subclinical workers.
According to information supplied by Australia’s biggest bank, the arrival of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 curbed consumers’ pent-up aspirations to spend big in December. The easing of limitations enforced during the nation’s Delta variant epidemics, according to the CBA, encouraged Christmas trade.
Impact of Pre-Omicron on Australian Market:
The economy had been recovering fairly well before the Omicron pandemic occurred during the Christmas season. As coronavirus lockdowns were lifted in November, employment increased significantly quicker than projected, and retail sales increased for the second month in a row. Omicron has impacted a lot of people in the market and the pre-omicron market was having a good hype and suddenly fell due to COVID. get more information about the Market check out here.
Tanya Wilson
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