Retail sales figures should show the Australian economy continues to "muddle along" without setting off too many alarm bells about an imminent recession or inflation kicking off again.
Economists expect the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday to reveal retail trade picked up 0.4 per cent in August after a softer July reading in which turnover failed to grow.
"There are the tax cuts, which may have helped," AMP chief economist Shane Oliver told AAP.
"It was an earlier-than-normal Father's Day, which may help.
"And we are coming off the back of some soft-ish months for retail sales, so we should see some sort of bounce in there when those numbers come out."
August retail trade could be up thanks to factors including an earlier-than-usual Father's Day. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)
The retail print leads a quieter week on the data front domestically after softer monthly inflation figures on Wednesday raised hopes the Reserve Bank of Australia could start cutting rates before the end of the year.
The slight uptick in retail sales, as well as modest expected growth in the household spending indicator on Friday, won't worry the central bank too much about inflation getting out of hand again.
Similarly, it won't raise concerns of a recession.
"We tightened monetary policy a lot, so there is still a risk of a recession - but for the time being I suspect, at least for the week ahead, the data will show an economy continuing to muddle along," Dr Oliver said.
The RBA has fallen behind its US counterpart, the Federal Reserve, which kicked off its rate-easing cycle with a bumper 50 basis point cut earlier in September.
Non-farm payroll jobs figures could raise expectations of another 0.5 percentage point cut if employment growth is weaker than expected.
"One of the reasons the Fed did go 50 basis points was because it was worried the jobs market would deteriorate too quickly," Dr Oliver said.
"So those numbers are going to be looked at quite closely, and it's a bit of a double-edged sword."
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver expects data to show "an economy continuing to muddle along". (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
If the numbers are too strong, it could discourage the central bank from cutting rates as quickly, which would be viewed negatively by investors.
But if the numbers are too weak, it could spark fears of a recession.
"So you really want an in-between sort of number slowing jobs growth but not collapsing," Dr Oliver said.
Hopes of more rate cuts in the US contributed to Wall Street's three main indexes all posting weekly gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday rose 137.89 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 42,313.00, the S&P 500 lost 7.20 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 5,738.17 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 70.70 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 18,119.59.
Australian share futures gained 22 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 8277.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index ended Friday up 8.5 points, or 0.1 per cent, at an all-time closing high of 8,212.2, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 14 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 8,476.8.