Tag Archive: Retail sales

Retail Sales and the End of ‘Reflation’

2017-09-22

There will be an irresistible urge to the make this about the weather, but more and more data shows it’s not any singular instance. Nor is it transitory. What does prove to be temporary time and again is the upside. The economy gets hit (by “dollar” events), bounces back a little, and then goes right back into the dumps. This, it seems, is the limited extent of cyclicality in these times.

Read More »

A Clear Anchor

2017-09-21

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-09-21

China Fixed Asses Investment, 2014 - 2016

All the way back in January I calculated the total size of China’s 2016 fiscal “stimulus.” Starting in January 2016, authorities conducted what was an enormous spending program. As it had twice before, the government directed increased “investment” from State-owned Enterprises (SOE). By my back-of-the-envelope numbers, the scale of this fiscal side program was about RMB 1.45 trillion, or nearly 2% of GDP

Read More »

Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Don’t Underestimate Gridlock

2017-08-30

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2017-08-30

The economic reports released since the last update were slightly more upbeat than the previous period. The economic surprises have largely been on the positive side but there were some major disappointments as well. The economy has been doing this for several years now, one part of the economy waxing while another wanes and the overall trajectory not much changed. Indeed, the broad Chicago Fed National Activity index probably says it all, coming...

Read More »

United States: Still No Up

2017-08-19

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-08-19

The Asian flu of the late 1990’s might have been more accurately described as the Asian dollar flu. It was the first major global test of the mature eurodollar system, and it was a severe disruption in the global economy. It doesn’t register as much here in the United States because of the dot-com bubble and the popular imagination about Alan Greenspan’s monetary stewardship in general.

Read More »

China: Losing Economic ‘Reflation’

2017-08-16

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-08-16

China Fixed Asset Investment Jul 2012-2017

If “reflation” was born last year in Japan, and I think it was, it was surely given its most tangible dimensions in China. The idea that the Bank of Japan was going to do something magnificent was perhaps always a longshot, but enough given the times for people to hope (sentiment) they might try (helicopter). The Chinese, however, have been relatively more pragmatic. Authorities began 2016 with an actual rather than imagined “stimulus” injection...

Read More »

China’s Economy Shorthand the Largest Asset Bubble in Human History

2017-07-22

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-07-22

China Industrial Production, June 1997 - Jun 2017

The term “ghost city” is a loaded one, often deployed to skew toward a particular viewpoint. In the context of China’s economy, it has become shorthand for perhaps the largest asset bubble in human history. While that may ultimately be the case, in truth China’s ghost cities aren’t about the past but its future.

Read More »

Retail Sales Conundrum

2017-07-20

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-07-20

U.S. Retail Sales All Weakness, Jun 2011 - 2017

Retail sales were thoroughly disappointing in June. Whereas other accounts such as imports or durable goods had at least delivered a split decision between adjusted and unadjusted versions, for retail sales both views of them were ugly. Seasonally-adjusted first, spending last month was down for the second straight time. Worse than that, estimated sales were just barely more than in January.

Read More »

Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Attention Shoppers

2017-07-17

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2017-07-17

The majority of the economic reports over the last two weeks have been disappointing, less than the consensus expectations. The minor rebound in activity we’ve been tracking since last summer appears to have stalled. Retail sales continue to disappoint and inventory/sales ratios are once again rising – from already elevated levels.

Read More »

Brazil’s Reasons

2017-07-02

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-07-02

Brazil is another one of those topics which doesn’t seem to merit much scrutiny apart from morbid curiosity. Like swap spreads or Japanese bank currency redistribution tendencies, it is sometimes hard to see the connection for US-based or just generically DM investors. Unless you set out to buy an emerging market ETF heavily weighted in the direction of South America, Brazil’s problems can seem a world away.

Read More »

Chinese Basis For Anti-Reflation?

2017-06-26

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-06-26

Yesterday was something of a data deluge. In the US, we had the predictable CPI dropping again, lackluster US Retail Sales, and then the FOMC’s embarrassing performance. Across the Pacific, the Chinese also reported Retail Sales as well as Industrial Production and growth of investments in Fixed Assets (FAI). When deciding which topics to cover yesterday, it was easy to leave off the Chinese portion simply because much of it didn’t change.

Read More »

Retail Sales Weren’t All That Bad, Meaning They Were The Worst

2017-06-23

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-06-23

Taken in comparison to the last few years, today’s retail sales report wasn’t that bad. Total sales for May 2017, including autos, grew by 5.17% year-over-year (NSA). That was the highest growth rate since last February. The 6-month average is now just shy of 4%, the best since early 2015. It is clear the US economy has shrugged off the effects of last year’s downturn.

Read More »

Bi-Weekly Economic Review

2017-05-23

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2017-05-23

The economic data releases since the last update were generally upbeat but markets are forward looking and the future apparently isn’t to their liking. Of course, it is hard to tell sometimes whether bonds, the dollar and stocks are responding to the real economy or the one people hope Donald Trump can deliver when he isn’t busy contradicting his communications staff.

Read More »

Trying To Reconcile Accounts; China

2017-05-21

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-05-21

China Fixed Asset Investment, April 2013 - April 2017

Chinese economic data for April 2017 has been uniformly disappointing. External trade numbers resembled too much commodity prices, leaving an emphasis on them rather than actual economic forces. The latest figures for the Big 3, Industrial Production, Retail Sales, and Fixed Asset Investment, unfortunately also remained true to the pattern.

Read More »

Reasonable Retail (Therefore Consumer) Expectations

2017-05-20

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-05-20

Transitory Retail Sales, January 2013 - May 2017

Retail sales estimates are not adjusted for inflation, but even so whenever they get down toward the 3% growth level you can be sure there is serious economic trouble. The 6-month average for overall retail sales dropped below 3% in March 2001, the month that marked the start of the official dot-com recession (though that is not the official name for the cyclical peak, it probably should be).

Read More »

The Expanded Retail Sales Gap

2017-04-18

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-04-18

Retail sales growth in February 2017 was going to be low by virtue of its comparison to February 2016 and the extra day in that month. The Census Bureau’s autoregressive models are supposed to normalize just these kinds of calendar irregularities so that we can make something close to apples to apples comparisons. The seasonally-adjusted estimate for February, however, was calculated to be less than the one for January 2017, therefore suggesting...

Read More »

Assessing China’s Economic Risks

2017-04-18

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-04-18

First quarter GDP in China rose 6.9%, better than expected and above the government’s target (6.5%) for 2017. It stands to reason, however, that if Communist officials thought they could get 6.9% to last for the whole year they would have made it their target, especially since 6.5% would be less than the GDP growth rate for 2016 (6.7%). In only that one way is China’s GDP statistic meaningful.

Read More »

Retail Sales: Extra Day Likely, no Meaningful Difference

2017-03-19

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-03-19

Retail sales comparisons were for February 2017 skewed by the extra day in February 2016. With the leap year February 29th a part of the base effect, the estimated growth rates (NSA) for this February are to some degree better than they appear. Seasonally-adjusted retail sales were in the latest estimates essentially flat when compared to the prior month (January). That leaves too much guesswork to draw any hard conclusions.

Read More »

China Starts 2017 With Chronic, Not Stable And Surely Not ‘Reflation’

2017-03-15

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-03-15

The first major economic data of 2017 from China was highly disappointing to expectations of either stability or hopes for actual acceleration. On all counts for the combined January-February period, the big three statistics missed: Industrial Production was 6.3%, Fixed Asset Investment 8.9%, and Retail Sales just 9.5%.

Read More »

Real Disposable Income: Headwinds of the Negative

2017-03-03

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2017-03-03

The PCE Deflator for January 2017 rose just 1.89% year-over-year. It was the 57th consecutive month less than the 2% mandate (given by the Fed itself when in early 2012 it made the 2% target for this metric its official definition of price stability).

Read More »

Fasten Your Seat Belts: Tomorrow Promises to be Tumultuous

2016-07-28

by Marc Chandler

2016-07-28

Japan reports on labor, consumption, inflation and industrial output before the BOJ meeting. ECB reports inflation and Q2 GDP and the results of the stress test on banks. US reports first look at Q2 GDP.

Read More »