The Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) share price is surging into the green in afternoon trade on Thursday.
At the time of writing, the share is swapping hands at $4.65 apiece, more than 16% higher from the open on no news.
In broad market moves, the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index (ASX: XDJ) is flat on the day.
What's up with the Temple & Webster share price?
Whilst the company hasn't released anything sensitive today, the latest Australian inflation data might have something to do with things.
Data released from the ABS shows the aggregate level of prices in the consumer price index (CPI) increased 6.1% year on year last quarter, led by segments such as automotive fuels and furniture.
The gain also signifies a 100bps increase from the previous quarter's CPI print of 5.1%.
Retail shares have flourished today following the release of the data. Temple & Webster had gained more than 5% yesterday too, and the bid has continued into this afternoon.
The thinking is that consumer cyclicals, including retail, could benefit in the near term from the pricing advantages given there's no cost of production for the end-product in these sectors.
We see evidence of this in large retailers' earnings for the March quarter of 2022.
Luxury retailer [Louis Vuitton] LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (SEEPA: MC) reported earnings overnight with a better than expected result from top to bottom.
LVMH's sales rose 19% year on year to 18.73 billion euros in the three months to June 30, beating analyst expectations for 17.13 billion euros, whereas profit rose 34% to 10.2 billion euros.
Consumer cyclicals are "riding a post-pandemic boom that has so far shown no sign of slowing despite various challenges to the global economy such as rising inflation, logistical blockages and the war in Ukraine," The Wall St Journal reports.
Investors seem to have agreed with this for the Temple & Webster share price.
Trading volume is nearly 100% that of its 4-week average at around 560,000 shares, bringing the gain to 31% for the week.
Despite this, the stock is still down 62% for the year, which may or may not have some influence on buying activity considering the cheap absolute prices.
