US retail sales fell again in June. Bloomberg reports:
Sales at U.S. retailers dropped in June for a second month, indicating the economic recovery dissipated heading into the second half of 2010.
Purchases decreased 0.5 percent, more than projected, after declining 1.1 percent in May, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Excluding auto dealers, demand fell 0.1 percent, matching the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News...
Excluding autos, gasoline and building materials, which are the figures used to calculate gross domestic product, sales rose 0.2 percent after a 0.2 percent decrease the prior month.
Other reports in the US on Wednesday also pointed to slowing growth.
Prices of goods imported into the U.S. fell in June by the most since January 2009, led by declines in costs of oil, business equipment and consumer goods, a report from the Labor Department also showed today. The 1.3 percent drop in the import price index was more than projected and followed a revised 0.5 percent decline in May.
A lack of inflation and the financial turmoil caused by the European debt crisis led the Federal Reserve last month to renew a pledge to keep interest rates near zero. Minutes of the meeting released today showed policy makers’ noted downside risks had increased, lowered growth forecasts for this year and reduced price estimates for 2010 though 2012.
Companies started bracing for slower growth when sales began retreating in May. Inventories rose 0.1 percent that month from April, the smallest gain this year, another Commerce Department report showed today. The increase in the value of stockpiles was smaller than the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and followed a 0.4 percent advance the prior month.
Meanwhile, eurozone data showed that growth was still being maintained in June with little threat of inflation. Bloomberg reports:
European inflation slowed in June and industrial production increased less than economists forecast in May as the economy struggled to gather strength.
Consumer prices in the 16-member euro region rose 1.4 percent from a year ago after increasing 1.6 percent in May, the European Union statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Industrial production rose 0.9 percent in May from the previous month, when it also increased 0.9 percent, a separate report showed today. Economists forecast output to rise 1.2 percent, the median of 27 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed.
UK data also show that the economic recovery is intact. Reuters reports:
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Britain fell to its lowest in more than a year in June, while the number of those in work jumped at its fastest in four years, suggesting recovery remains on track.
But figures from the Office for National Statistics also showed a marked slowdown in earnings growth, which should reassure the Bank of England that high inflation is not propelling pay demands and persuade it to keep policy loose.
Wednesday's figures showed the number of people claiming jobless benefit fell by a bigger-than-expected 20,800 in June, its fifth consecutive monthly fall and pushing the claimant count rate down to a 15-month low of 4.5 percent.
But while the US and Europe struggle to maintain growth, Asia is at risk of overheating.
In India, inflation keeps creeping higher. AFP/CNA reports:
India's double-digit inflation edged higher in June, touching an annual rate of 10.55 percent, official data showed Wednesday, stoking pressure for another interest rate hike this month.
The inflation increase, which comes ahead of the central bank's quarterly policy meeting on July 27, was mainly due to a rise late last month in fuel costs as well as an increase in food prices, the data showed.
Such is the pace of growth throughout Asia that even China's double-digit growth rate no longer looks exceptional, not when newly-industrialised Singapore can boast a higher growth rate. From CNA:
The Singapore government on Wednesday upgraded its 2010 economic growth forecast to a blistering 13 to 15 per cent, outstripping estimates of around 10 per cent growth in regional powerhouse China...
GDP growth in the first quarter was 16.9 per cent from a year ago, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said, while second quarter expansion is estimated at 19.3 per cent...
On an annualised and seasonally adjusted basis, Singapore economy expanded 26.0 per cent in the April-June period. The manufacturing sector is estimated to have grown by 45.5 per cent year-on-year.
Strong economic growth throughout the region has emboldened Thailand's central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2008 by 25 basis points to 1.5 percent.
No comments:
Post a Comment