After two months of nothing, the avalanche of actual government-supplied macro data begins in earnest with Retail Sales (for September). BofA's omniscient analysts expected a small beat...
But, for once, they were off with headline sales rising just 0.2% MoM (+0.4% MoM exp) but still rising for the 4th straight month...
Source: Bloomberg
On an unadjusted basis, Retail Sales fell significantly MoM (but that appears to be a very seasonal factor)...
Excluding Autos, sales were up 0.3% MoM (in line with expectations) but Ex Autos and Gas it was a disappointment, rising just 0.1% MoM (+0.3% exp).
Motor Vehicles and Nonstore Retailers saw sales drop the most while Gasoline Stations and Food Services & Drinking sales rose the most...
Perhaps worst of all is the 0.1% MoM decline in the Control Group - which is used in the GDP calculation - considerably worse than the +0.3% MoM expectation...
Source: Bloomberg
Control Group Sales are still up 4.1% YoY however.
Finally, we note that 'real' retail sales are higher YoY for the 12th straight month...
More bad news to support Fed rate-cuts?
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