The Health of the Consumer
Thu, May 22 2008, 22:56 GMT
by Andrei Pehar
This week saw a slew of consumer data hitting the markets.
In Australia
consumer sentiment grew 2.7%, nearly twice as much as expected. The prior
month had seen a decline 1.3%. Meanwhile credit card spending in New Zealand rose by 8.3% this year (compared
with an increase of 3.3% the previous year), mirroring a trend also seen in the
United States.
Retail sales in Italy
dropped by 0.5% this month, and the prior month's numbers were revised down to
only a slight gain of 0.2%. Retail sales in the UK declined by 0.2%, at a rate consistent
with last month's figures. Analysts had been expecting a slightly larger
decline of 0.5%.
Canada's
retail sales showed a slight gain of 0.1%, but not quite the 0.3% which
analysts were expecting. Excluding autos, which make up 25% of the
figure, the numbers remain unchanged from last month vs. analyst estimates for
0.4% growth. Last week, the US saw their retail sales decline
by 0.2%.
Germany, Switzerland, and the United
States all saw an increase in their PPI data this week,
and Canada
posted a slight increase in their CPI, suggesting inflation remains a worldwide
cause for concern. (The UK
also saw a sharp increase in their own CPI just the week before).
The US
also saw a decline in unemployment claims, with 365,000 filing this month compared
with 374,000 the previous month.
