Canadian Retail Sales up 0.1% in March. Core sales unchanged. US Jobless Claims fall. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

May 22, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Canadian Retail Sales up 0.1% in March. Core sales unchanged. US Jobless Claims fall.

Canadian Retail Sales increased in March according to a report by Statistics Canada released today. March retail sales bumped up 0.1 percent to $35.5 billion and followed a revised decrease of 0.8 percent in February. The rise in Retail sales was less than anticipated by economic forecasts which had expected an increase in the sales numbers by 0.4 percent. Providing a boost to the retail sales numbers were retail store sales in sporting goods, home furnishings, electronics and pharmacies. Sales by new car dealers grew by 0.4 percent in March and gasoline station sales showed a 0.7 percent increase for the month.

Core retail sales or sales minus automobiles showed no change in March which was below market forecasts predicting a 0.4 percent increase. February core retail sales produced a revised decrease of 0.4 percent.

Jobless claims fall.

Weekly U.S. jobless claims decreased in the week that ended on May 17th according to the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims totaled 365,000 unemployed workers, a decline of 9,000 from 374,000 unemployed workers the week prior. A 4-week moving average increased by 5,000 to 372,250 from the prior week total of 367,250 workers.

Workers continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 10th showed no change from the week prior and stood at 3,073,000. A four week moving average of continuing claims increased by 31,750 workers to 3,052,000. The prior week's moving average registered 3,020,250.

Tags: canada, retail sales, trade, core sales, cad, jobless claims, us employment, department of labor

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