Retails and foods services sales changed direction from the previous month and slightly rose by 0.3% in November 2012 compared with October’s sales and were also above the sales at November 2011.
The U.S. Department of Commerce (pdf file) published today its monthly report on the developments in the U.S. retail and food sales for November 2012.
This report adjusts for seasonal variances and holidays but doesn’t control for price movement. In November, the U.S. retail and food sales reached $412.4 billion, which is 0.3% above the sales in October and 3.7% above November 2011. The gasoline stations sales were down by 4% in November compared to October but 0.8% below the sales in November 2011. Total sales of gasoline in January – November 2012 reached $503.8 billion (not adjusted for seasonality) – an increase of 4.1% compared to the first eleven months of 2011.
This shows a moderate drop in the U.S demand for retail but a rise in demand for energy commodities.
If the demand for gasoline will continue to fall, it could signal a slowdown in the growing demand for oil in the U.S and thus may pull back the prices of oil. Conversely, the recent moderate rise in the retail sales might suggest the U.S economy is slowly progressing.
The major energy commodities prices slightly rose today; the major exchange rates such as the Euro US dollar decreased. This means, the news of the modest fall in gasoline stations sales may have had a moderate negative effect on energy rates.
Current Nymex crude oil futures (short term delivery) is traded up by 0.02% to $86.82 per barrel as of 17:19*.
Euro to US dollar exchange rate is currently traded down to 1.3063, a 0.08% decrease as of 17:19*.
Current gold futures (short term delivery) is traded at $1,702 per t oz. a $15.2 decrease as of 17:19*.
(* GMT)
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