(CEP News)
• U.S. Retail Sales Grow in January
• U.S. Jobless Claims Higher than Expected
• U.S. Business Inventories Down 1.3%

U.S. Retail Sales Eke Out Growth in January

Retail sales in the United States climbed well beyond expectations in January, with headline sales up 1.0% in January, despite forecasts for a 0.8% contraction. This is the first positive reading since July 2008. Retail sales excluding autos grew 0.9% in the month, against expectations for a -0.4% print, according to advance estimates released from the Department of Commerce on Thursday.

In the previous month, total sales were revised down three-tenths to a 3.0% loss, while the ex-autos figure was downwardly revised down one-tenth to -3.2%.

“While the monthly view for U.S. retail sales points to a bit of a reprieve in slumping activity, one cannot argue with the longer term view,” said Charmaine Buskas, economist with TD Securities. “The consumer is still backed into a corner and the January numbers do not materially change this. Looking ahead, consumer spending will continue to be a drag on growth for the next few quarters.”

U.S. Continuing Jobless Claims Rise to New Record High

First-time claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. came in above estimates in the week ending Jan. Feb. 7, easing slightly from the 27-year high reached last week, while continuing claims rose to a new record high.

Initial claims fell back to 623k in the week, following an upwardly revised 631k claims in the prior week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Claims were forecast to come in at 610k. Meanwhile, continuing claims rose to 4.810 million in the week ending Jan. 31, above the consensus forecast for a rise to 4.800 million. The prior week’s level of 4.788 million was revised up to 4.799 million.

The small decline in U.S. initial jobless claims is not the start of a positive trend, according to James Knightley at ING. “We wouldn’t expect any major improvement until 2Q at the earliest when some of the tax cuts may be starting to come through,” he said

U.S. Business Inventories Drop 1.3% in December

U.S. business inventories declined for the fourth straight month in December, indicating that businesses were cautious about the economic outlook heading into the New Year. Inventories fell 1.3% month-over-month in December, four-tenths more than the consensus estimate for a 0.9% decline. The drop followed a revised 1.1% fallback in November and a 0.6% decline in October, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported.

U.S. Natural Gas Inventories Fall 159 Bfc

Underground U.S. natural gas storage declined by 159 billion cubic feet last week but supplies remain at above-average levels, according to data. The drawdown was slightly below the consensus estimate of -164 bcf, and less than the 195 bcf decrease reported last week. Estimates ranged from -150 bcf to -178 bcf, according to Bloomberg’s survey.

By Stephen Huebl, shuebl@economicnews.ca, with contributions from Megan Ainscow, mainscow@economicnews.ca and Adam Button, abutton@economicnews.ca

CEP Newswires - CEP News © 2008. All Rights Reserved. www.economicnews.ca

The Copying, Broadcast, Republication or Redistribution of CEP News Content is Expressly Prohibited Without the Prior Written Consent of CEP News.

A copy of CEP News disclaimer can be found at http://www.economicnews.ca/cepnews/wire/disclaimer.

Posted in Categories: Canada, Economy, Eurozone, Releases, USA.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email