Tainted Alpha

(For December 2010)

U.S. retail sales rose 0.6% in December. The consensus was at 0.8%, November reading was at +0.8%. On year level retail sales are up 7.6%.

Chart 1. U.S. Retail Sales

Most notable gainers: non store retailers +2.6% m-o-m; building material & garden equipment +2.7%; Most notable losers: miscellaneous store retailers -1.3%; general merchandise stores -0.7%.

Chart 2. U.S. Retail Sales – Sectors

Autos taken out, the figure was an increase of 0.5% vs. consensus of 0.7%. Prior reading was revised to +1.0% (down 0.2%).

Chart 3. U.S. Retail Sales Less Autos

Autos and gas station taken out, the retail sales rose 0.4% vs. consensus of 0.3% growth. Prior reading was at +0.6% (revised down 0.2%).

Chart 4. U.S. Retail Sales Less Autos and Gas Stations

Ambiguous figures….

U.S. Retail Sales

This entry was posted on Friday, January 14th, 2011 at 9:16 am and is filed under U.S. Economic Data. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.