Posted on 10/16/2019 6:37:20 AM PDT by babble-on
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales fell for the first time in seven months in September, suggesting that manufacturing-led weakness could be spreading to the broader economy, keeping the door open for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again later this month.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The Holiday shopping season starting soon will be huge this year.
LOL
I don’t like buying from Target, Walmart, and Amazon, and a lot of people are deciding they don’t need all of the junk in their life.
WASHINGTON – The National Retail Federation today forecast that retail sales during 2019 will increase between 3.8 percent and 4.4 percent to more than $3.8 trillion despite threats from an ongoing trade war, the volatile stock market and the effects of the government shutdown.
Reuters is desperate.
No lower gas prices and auto sales were a large part of this drop. Add to that the impact of the UAW/GM strike and you see why sales are down slightly.
Sorry, I assumed you were kidding. Check out car sales. Nice.
Yup, PDJT responsible for the looming recession. Or maybe it’s just lurking.
Agree.....we’re saving up.
Manufacturing is exploding, Trump is crushing the ChiComs on trade.
For three years, in case you missed it, Trump has moved us from a retail-driven/spending economy to an investment driven, manufacturing economy.
After six monthly declines to start the year, the industry is down 2.4 percent halfway through 2019. It’s on pace to finish at slightly more than 16.9 million, which would be the first time shy of 17 million since 2014.
That’s still strong by historical standards. And all analyst bets are off if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates this year, as rising auto loan rates have hurt demand.
“The U.S. economy continues to grow at a healthy pace. Jobs are plentiful and inflation remains low,” General Motors’ chief economist, Elaine Buckberg, said in a statement last week. “Auto demand was better than anticipated in the first half and we expect strong performance in the second half of the year. If the Fed cuts rates, as widely expected, lower financing costs will provide further support to auto sales.”
Reuters is seeing a glimmer of hope, pre holiday season. But their hopes will get crushed soon.
And that’s why investment spending is low and manufacturing is in recession. Got it, thanks for clarification.
OH NOES
Meanwhile previous months retail spending was through the roof and month before that was revised upward as per the article you cite. The month Reuters is claiming was down vs previous month was still UP year over year from last September.
One month does NOT a trend make
There is a phrase, “figures lie and liars figure”. Another one is “Consider the source”
That’s. completely false. Manufacturing in the US is better than in decades though the ESTIMATED RATE OF FUTURE GROWTH has been decreased somewhat.
Business investment is up.
Stock market near a record high.
Consumer spending strong and their debt vs equity is low.
We’re doin fine, little worry wart.
Thanks for clarifying.
Yup, everyone cuts down on spending in the early Fall so because they’re saving up for Christmas shopping.
Black Fri and Cyber Mon will kick things off again. Then there will be a slump from Jan to tax time. Then things will level off again.
Normal yearly cycles.
Manufacturing:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PRS30006042
Business fixed investment: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BUSFIXINVESTNOW
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