Retails and foods services sales edged up in July 2012 compared with June’s sales, and were above the sales at July 2011.
The U.S. Department of Commerce published today its monthly report on the changes in the U.S. retail and food sales during July 2012.
This report adjusts for seasonal variances and holidays but doesn’t control for price changes. In July, the U.S. retail and food sales reached $403.9 billion, which is 0.8% above the sales in June and 4.1% above July 2011. The gasoline stations sales also rose by 0.5% in July compared to June but declined by 2.6% compared to July 2011. Total sales of gasoline in January – July 2012 reached $316.7 billion (not adjusted for seasonality) – an increase of 3.9% from the first seven months of 2011. This shows a low 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 the demand for gasoline edged up. If this trend will continue, it could signal a slow progress of the U.S economy and thus may affect commodities prices such as crude oil and natural gas.
The major energy commodities prices rose today; the major exchange rates such as the Euro US dollar edged down. This means the news of the rise in retail sales and gasoline stations sales may have contributed to the rally of energy rates.
Current Nymex crude oil price, short term futures (September 2012 delivery) is traded up by 0.64% to $93.32 per barrel as of 22:06*.
Euro to US dollar exchange rate is currently traded up to 1.2321, a 0.01% decrease as of 22:34*.
Current gold price, short term futures (September 2012 delivery) is traded at $1,601.4 per t oz. an $11.2 decrease as of 22:07*.
(* GMT)
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