US Retail Sales increase in March. Business inventories rise. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

April 14, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Retail Sales increase in March. Business inventories rise.

U.S. Retail Sales increased in March according to a report by the U.S. Commerce Department released today. Advance estimates of March retail sales increased 0.2 percent to $381.4 billion from February and marked a gain of 2.0 percent over the March 2007 sales level. February's retail sales numbers were revised upwards to show a decline of 0.4 percent. March's sales totals showed a greater gain than expected as market forecasts were predicting a 0.1 percent rise. First quarter of 2008 retail sales are up by 2.9 percent compared to the first quarter last year. Boosting the retail sales numbers in March was a gain in gasoline prices which rose 1.1 percent for the month. Gas station sales are up 18.9 percent from March 2007 and retail sales minus automobiles sales registered a 0.1 percent increase in March

U.S. business inventories rose in February according to another report released today by the Commerce Department. Business inventories rose 0.6 percent in February after a rise of 0.9 percent in January. The report also showed that business sales fell 1.1 percent in February to $1,142.8 billion and that the inventories to sales ratio reached 1.28 months.

The U.S. dollar has been losing ground to the euro today in the U.S. trading session after the dollar had rebounded on Sunday with a gain of about 150 pips against the euro following the G7 meetings. The dollar has been trading around 1.5835 before noon eastern time against the euro and has been mixed against most of the other major currencies today.

Tags: usd, retail sales, gasoline sales, business inventories, forex trading

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