OREANDA-NEWS. September 20, 2011. Rosstat published key macroeconomic indicators for August. On the positive side, retail sales and unemployment surprised on the upside. Growth in retail sales was 7.8% YoY (+3.8% MoM) vs the Bloomberg consensus forecast of 5.7% YoY. Rosstat also revised upwards its July figure to 5.7% YoY from 5.6% previously. The jobless rate fell sharply to 6.1% in August from 6.5% in the prior month, while the market had estimated 6.4%.

However, certain indicators came in below consensus expectations: disposable income expanded by 1.4% YoY (market estimate: 1.6%), real wages were 3.9% YoY (market estimate: 4.2%), and fixed investment added 6.5% YoY (market estimate: 7.0%). That said,  YoY growth rates in disposable income and real wages strengthened on July.