Retail Sales Go Rogue

Wells Fargo Research Team Wells Fargo

U.S. Review

Retail Sales Go Rogue

Energy prices weighed on both headline CPI and PPI. The January CPI was unchanged, while PPI fell 0.1%. Core measures were more firm, rising 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
Retail sales unexpectedly plunged 1.2% during December. Control group sales, which factor into GDP, also sharply declined 1.7%.
Industrial production fell 0.6% in January, with the weakness being traced to the manufacturing sector.
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index dropped 3.2 points in January amid uncertainty from the government shutdown.

Global Review

More Subdued Data from the Global Economy

U.K. GDP growth slowed more than expected toward the end of last year as business investment declined for the fourth-straight quarter, likely at least partly a symptom of Brexit uncertainty. Still, consumer activity has held up against a backdrop of stronger real wage growth.
Eurozone industrial output figures pointed to a further slowing in activity in the currency bloc, while we also learned that Germany’s economy stagnated in Q4. Japanese GDP data showed a rebound in Q4 after a string of natural disasters in the prior quarter, although that rebound was not quite as strong as expected.

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Wells Fargo Research Team

Wells Fargo

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