Last week, I mentioned Retail Sales ex-Auto and Gasoline were pretty poor.
Looks like the Atlanta Fed is now also reporting what they Core Retail Sales — ex autos, energy and construction.
They noted: June retail sales increased 0.7% from May, slightly higher than analysts’ expectations of 0.4%. However, retail sales excluding autos increased below an expected 0.5% gain to 0.3% in June (See chart).
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau
·Total retail sales exceeded market expectations in June. This was the second consecutive monthly increase, but sales are still down 9.0% from a year earlier.
· On a year-over-year basis, the decline in retail sales excluding autos continued to accelerate, falling to -7.9%.
· Consumers continue to be very conservative in their spending, as demonstrated by May’s personal savings rate, which climbed to 6.9%, the highest rate in almost 16 years.
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Although retail sales posted a gain in June, gasoline stations were responsible for more than half of the increase. The auto and gasoline stations sales increase was likely the result of rising prices. (See chart).
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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Source:
Consumer Spending
Economic Highlights—July 15, 2009
http://www.frbatlanta.org/EH_invoke.cfm?objectid=60E864C1-5056-9F12-12ADD19D362B0090&method=display_body
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