Forex News - US Retail Sales fall in July. Import prices climb. | CountingPips Forex Blog

August 13, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Forex News - US Retail Sales fall in July. Import prices climb.

U.S. Retail Sales decreased in July according to a report by the U.S. Commerce Department released today. Advance estimates of July retail sales decreased by 0.1 percent to $348.6 billion from June as retail sales declined for the first time in 5 months. July's retail sales registered a gain of 2.6 percent over the July 2007 sales level. July's sales totals followed 0.3 percent increase in June and equaled market forecasts which were predicting a 0.1 percent fall.

US Economic News July's retail sales numbers were weighted down by a 2.4 percent decrease in automobile sales as retail sales excluding automobiles increased by 0.4 percent in July, falling just short of forecasts expecting a 0.5 percent gain. Retail sales excluding automobile sales increased by 0.9 percent in June. Retail sales are up by 2.7 percent in the May through July time frame compared to the same time last year. Gas station sales increased 0.8 percent in July by 24.6 percent for the year while sales of nonstore retailers have increased by 7.7 percent over last year.

A separate Labor Department report showed that import prices rose by more than expected in July as gasoline and natural gas prices climbed. Import prices increased by 1.7 percent in July following a revised 2.9 percent increase in June. On an annual basis, import prices surged to a record 21.6 percent increase from last year and follows an annual increase of 20.5 percent in June. July's monthly increase surpassed economic forecasts expecting a 1.0 percent gain and the annual rate increase surpassed a forecasted 20.9 percent gain. Natural gas and petroleum price increases were major contributors to the increase import prices as natural gas and petroleum rose by 5.8 percent and 4.0 percent in July, respectively.

The U.S. dollar has been mostly mixed against most of the major currencies today in the U.S. forex trading session after the economic releases. The dollar has been trading sideways today against the euro as the EUR/USD pair has been trading in a fairly contained range since the beginning of trading on Sunday. The dollar has continued to gain ground against the pound sterling as the GBP/USD pair has been trading around the 1.8700 level after starting the week above the 1.9200 level. The USD/JPY pair has increased today in trading after falling from above the 110.00 mark to below 108.50 yesterday to trading back above 109.00 in the U.S. afternoon.

USD/JPY Chart - The USD has gained today against the JPY after falling in yesterday's trading from above 110.00 to below 108.50(1 Hour Chart).

Forex Chart

tags: forex, retail sales, economic news, import prices, currency

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