Retails and foods services sales edged down in May 2012 compared with April 2012’s sales, but were above the sales at May 2011.
The U.S. Department of Commerce published its monthly update on the shifts in the U.S. retail and food sales during May 2012.
This report adjusts for seasonal variances and holidays but doesn’t control for price movement. In May, the U.S. retail and food sales reached $404.6 billion, which is 0.2% below the sales in April but 5.3% above May 2011. The gasoline stations sales declined by 2.2% in May compared to April but edged by 0.6% compared to May 2011. Total sales of gasoline in January – May 2012 reached $224.942 billion (not adjusted for seasonality) – an increase of 6.8% from the parallel time in 2011. This shows a steady growth in the U.S demand for retail and consequently for energy commodities.
This means the total retails sales didn’t change much and the growth in demand for gasoline slightly declined. If this trend will continue, it could signal a slowdown in the U.S economy and thus may adversely affect commodities prices such as oil and natural gas.
The major energy commodities prices are currently trading moderately down; the major exchange rates such as the Euro US dollar is sharply rising the forex exchange rate market.
Current Nymex crude oil price, short term futures (July 2012 delivery) is traded down by 0.53% to $82.88 per barrel as of 17:31*.
Euro to US dollar exchange rate is currently traded up to 1.2595, a 0.73% increase as of 17:31*.
Current gold price, short term futures (July 2012 delivery) is traded at $1,614.0 per t oz. a $.2 increase as of 17:41*.
(* GMT)
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