US Retail Sales fall sharply in December. Dollar shows gains in Forex Trading. | CountingPips Forex Blog

January 14, 2009 - Forex Economic News

US Retail Sales fall sharply in December. Dollar shows gains in Forex Trading.

U.S. Retail Sales decreased for the sixth month in a row in December according to a report by the U.S. Commerce Department released today. Advance estimates of December retail sales showed that sales fell by a more than expected 2.7 percent to $343.2 billion from November. On an annual basis, December retail sales decreased by a record 9.8 percent from the December 2007 level. USD gains in Forex Trading November's monthly retail sales had fallen by a revised 2.1 percent and the annual rate had declined by 8.2 percent from the November 2007 level. December's sales decline surpassed market forecasts that were expecting retail sales to fall by 1.4 percent for the month.

Retail sales excluding automobiles decreased by 3.1 percent in December following November's revised 2.5 percent decline. The monthly decline surpassed market forecasts that were expecting sales minus automobiles to register a 1.4 percent decrease.

Retail sales for the full year of 2008 dropped by 0.1 percent after gaining by 4.1 percent for 2007 and marks the first time retail sales had dropped for a full year since at least 1992 when the government record began. Retail sales minus automobiles registered an increase of 3.0 percent for the full year of 2008.

December's retail sales numbers were weighted down by across the board declines. Car sales fell by 0.7 percent and gasoline station sales dropped by 15.9 percent. Furniture & home furnishings store sales fell by 1.8 percent, clothing & clothing accessories store sales declined by 2.5 percent, building material & supplies dealers fell by 2.9 percent and department store sales dropped by 2.3 percent. Health & personal care stores and miscellaneous stores retailers managed to show the only sales gains in December by 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Forex Market - US Dollar shows gains today.

The U.S. dollar has been mostly stronger today in forex trading against the major currencies as the dollar has shown gains against the euro, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and New Zealand dollar while declining verses the pound and yen.

The euro is falling for the fourth straight day versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has dropped from today's 1.3258 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at approximately 1.3155 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 12:41pm EST.

The British pound has gained today versus the American currency from 1.4551 to trading at 1.4575 dollars per pound after falling against the dollar for the past three days. The dollar has also declined against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has declined from its 89.48 opening to trading at 89.10 yen per usd.

The dollar has jumped against the Canadian dollar after opening at 1.2172 earlier today to trading later at 1.2433 while the USD has also advanced against the Swiss franc from 1.1155 to trading at 1.1189. The Australian dollar has lost ground as the AUD/USD has declined from 0.6735 to 0.6608 while the New Zealand dollar has fallen from 0.5547 usd per nzd to trading at 0.5413 later today.

EUR/USD Chart - The Euro falling today against the US Dollar and trading right at the 55 day simple moving average. (Daily Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: US Retail Sales, usd, forex trading, fx market

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