Retail Sales fell by 0.1% in July to $342.3 billion, worse than the expected 0.7% growth, after a 0.8% increase in June, revised upward from the originally reported 0.6% advance. Over the past year, retail sales volume has decreased by 8.3%. Sales in automobiles proved to be strongest in July as a result of the Cash for Clunkers program. As a result, Retail Sales excluding autos exhibited a larger decrease, by 0.6%. Over the past year, retail sales excluding autos have declined by 8.5%.
Initial Claims increased by 4,000 to 558,000 filings for the week ending 08/08, expected to decrease to 542,000, from 554,000 the previous week, revised from 550,000. The 4-week moving average was 565,000, a decrease of 8,500. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment last week was 6,202,000, a decrease of 141,000 from the preceding week’s revised level, bringing the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate down to 4.7% from a revised 4.8% for the week ending 07/25.
Business Inventories are scheduled for release today at 10:00 AM EST and are expected to fall by 1%, following a 1% drop in May to $1,368.1 billion.
Upcoming Releases
Business Inventories (08/13 at 10:00 AM EST)
CPI (08/14 at 8:30 AM EST)
PPI (08/18 at 8:30 AM EST)
