US retail sales for December 2009 dropped -0.3% from the previous month, worse than expectations of +0.4%. Core retail sales dropped -0.2%, worse than expectations of +0.3%.
One bright note is that the sales figures were up from December 2008. Retails sales was up 5.4% and core retail sales was up 5.9% from last year.
US unemployment claims was also released today, coming in at 444,000. This was worse than expectations of 438,000.
With a struggling job market, consumers just don’t have the money or the confidence to go out and spend. It appears the stimulus has stabilized things in the short term, but not led to any significant growth.
US stocks opened to the downside today, but had no problem rallying into the positive afterwards. The USD has been mixed. It has strengthened against the EUR, been flat against the GBP and AUD, but weakened against the CAD and JPY.
