Retail Sales increased by 1.3% in November to $352.1 billion annualized, better than the expected increase of 0.9%, following a 1.1% increase in October (revised downward from a 1.4% increase), after decreasing by 2.3% in September. Over the past year, retail sales volume has expanded by 1.9%. Sales in motor vehicles and parts dealers increased by 1.6% over the month, following a 7.1% increase in October. Retail Sales excluding autos had increased by 1.2% in November, better than the expected 0.5% increase after remaining unchanged in October and increasing by 0.4% in September. Over the past year, retail sales excluding autos have increased by 2.2%.
Business Inventories for the month of October grew by 0.2% to $1,305.4, and were expected to remain flat following a 0.5% decline in September. Over the year, inventories are down by 12.6%. The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for October increased by 1.1% to $1.004.0 billion, seasonally adjusted, but is down by 8.2% over the past year. The inventories/sales ratio is 1.30 at the end of October compared to 1.37 a year ago.
Upcoming Releases
PPI (12/15 at 8:30 AM EST)
Industrial Production (12/15 at 9:15 AM EST)
Capacity Utilization (12/15 at 9:15 AM EST)
CPI (12/16 at 8:30 AM EST)
FOMC Policy Statement (12/16 at 2:15 PM EST)
