Retails and foods services sales edged down again in June 2012 compared with May’s sales, but were above the sales at June 2011.
The U.S. Department of Commerce published its monthly report on the developments in the U.S. retail and food sales during June 2012.
This report adjusts for seasonal variances and holidays but doesn’t control for price changes. In June, the U.S. retail and food sales reached $401.5 billion, which is 0.5% below the sales in May but 3.8% above June 2011. The gasoline stations sales also declined by 1.8% in June compared to May but edged by 0.1% compared to June 2011. Total sales of gasoline in January – June 2012 reached $271.837 billion (not adjusted for seasonality) – an increase of 5.5% from the first half of 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 but the growth in the demand for gasoline declined. If this downward trend will continue, it could signal a slowdown in growth of the U.S economy and thus may adversely affect commodities prices such as crude oil and natural gas.
The major energy commodities prices sharply rose yesterday; the major exchange rates such as the Euro US dollar edged up. Today the major commodities continue to trade up. This means the news of the slip in retail sales and gasoline stations sales didn’t surprise energy traders.
Current Nymex crude oil price, short term futures (August 2012 delivery) is traded up by 0.05% to $88.47 per barrel as of 09:10*.
Euro to US dollar exchange rate is currently traded up to 1.2296, a 0.2% increase as of 09:10*.
Current gold price, short term futures (August 2012 delivery) is traded at $1,593.8 per t oz. a $2.2 increase as of 09:10*.
(* GMT)
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