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U.S. Retail Sales increased in May and reversed two consecutive monthly declines according to a report by the U.S. Commerce Department released today. Advance estimates of May retail sales showed that sales rose by 0.5 percent to $340.0 billion following a revised 0.2 percent decline in April. On an annual basis, retail sales have declined by 9.6 percent from the May 2008 level following April’s 10.0 percent annual decline. Today’s data matched the market forecasts expecting a 0.5 percent monthly sales gain.
Retail sales, minus automobiles, also increased by 0.5 percent in May after a 0.2 percent revised decline in April. This data surpassed market forecasts that were predicting a 0.2 percent gain for the month. On an annual basis, sales minus autos is 7.3 percent lower than the May 2008 level following April’s annual decline of 7.3 percent.
May’s retail sales numbers were boosted by a 3.6 percent increase gasoline station sales. Despite the monthly increase, gasoline station sales are 33.8 percent below the May 2008 level when gas prices were on a steep incline towards record high prices. Also positively contibuting to the retail sales for May was a 1.3 percent increase in building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers while health & personal care store sales rose by 0.7 percent and motor vehicle & parts dealers sales grew by 0.5 percent.
The largest negative contributors to the retail sales data in May were miscellaneous store retailers with a 1.3 percent decline, sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores with a 0.8 percent decrease and electronics & appliance stores with a 0.5 percent decline.
Weekly Jobless Claims fall, continuing claims at record high.
Weekly U.S. initial jobless claims fell in the week that ended on June 6th according to the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims totaled 601,000 new unemployed worker claims, a decline of 24,000 from the week prior that had a revised 625,000 initial jobless claims. This is the lowest new claims level since January and was better than forecasts expecting approximately 615,000 claims for the week. The 4-week moving average of unemployed workers fell by 10,500 workers from the prior week to 621,750 workers.
Meanwhile, workers seeking continued claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 30th grew by 59,000 workers to a total of 6,816,000 unemployed workers and marked a new record high for continuing claims. The four week moving average of continuing claims grew by 57,250 workers from the previous week to 6,750,500 workers.
Forex Market – US Dollar falling in Forex today.
The U.S. dollar has been falling lower in forex trading today after the positive retail sales news. The dollar has fallen versus the euro, pound, franc, aussie, kiwi and loonie while gaining versus the yen.
The euro has advanced versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has risen from today’s 1.4028 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at approximately 1.4101 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 12:59pm EST according to currency data by Oanda.
The British pound has increased today versus the American currency as the GBP/USD has gone from the 1.6407 opening to trading at 1.6549 dollars per pound.
The dollar is virtually unchanged against the Japanese yen at the time of writing as the USD/JPY trades near its 97.89 opening exchange rate.
The dollar has fallen against the Canadian loonie dollar after opening at 1.1048 earlier today to trading later at 1.0976.
The USD is falling against the Swiss franc after the USD/CHF’s opening at 1.0778 to trading at the 1.0709 exchange rate.
The Australian dollar has advanced as the AUD/USD has gone from 0.8090 to trading at 0.8227 while the New Zealand dollar (NZD/USD) has climbed from 0.6359 usd per nzd to trading at 0.6458.
EUR/USD Chart – The Euro advancing against the US Dollar in Forex Trading today and trading back over the 1.4100 threshold above the 21-day moving average in green.
