Retail Sales increased by 0.4% in March to $389.3 billion annualized, lower than the expected 0.5%, following an increase of 1.1% in February after increasing by 0.7% in January. The increase marks the ninth straight month of gains, though this was the weakest reading since June 2010 when sales declined by 0.3%. Over the past year, retail sales volume has expanded by 7.1%. Sales at gasoline stations, which accounted for about 10.7% of overall retail sales last month, increased by 2.6%, after increasing by 2.4% in February. Excluding gasoline, retail sales rose by a mere 0.1% in March after a 0.9% increase in February. The largest percentage increase in retail sales came from furniture and home furnishing store, with sales climbing 3.6%. Building-supply and gardening stores witnessed a 2.2% increase in sales while electronics and appliance stores sales increased 2.1%. Food services and drinking places sales rose 1.0%. Health and personal care stores witnessed a 0.7% increase in sales while clothing and accessories store sales rose 0.6%. General merchandise stores sales grew 0.4%, but department stores recorded a 0.2% decline in sales. Sales at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores as well as at food and beverage stores increased by 0.1%, with grocery stores recording a 0.3% increase. Miscellaneous store sales decreased 2.1% while non-store retailers witnessed a 0.3% decline in sales. Sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers declined by 1.7%. Retail Sales excluding autos increased by 0.8% in March, matching expectations, after increasing by 1.1% in February and 0.6% in January.
Business Inventories are expected today at 10:00 AM EST. Business Inventories increased by 0.9% in January to $1,453.1 billion, and were 9.1% more than January 2010 levels. The inventories/sales ratio was 1.23 at the end of January, compared to 1.25 recorded a year ago.
Crude inventories are expected today at 10:30 AM EST. For the week ending April 1, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories had increased by 2.0 million barrels from the previous week to 357.7 million barrels and were above the upper limit of the average range for that time of year. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged nearly 14.4 million barrels per day during this period, 39 thousand barrels per day above the previous week’s average. U.S. crude oil imports were averaging 9.0 million barrels per day, down by 178 thousand barrels per day from the previous week.
Upcoming Releases
Business Inventories (04/13 at 10:00 AM EST)
Crude Inventories (04/13 at 10:30 AM EST)
Initial Claims (04/14 at 8:30 AM EST)
PPI (04/14 at 8:30 AM EST)
