The release of the US retail sales for October should have been one of today’s major market movers. However, the markets remain concerned with the developments in the UK concerning Brexit.
US retail sales surged last month following the first back-to-back declines since 2015.
The retail sales data implies that the US economy is on a strong path of growth.
The data has revealed that motor vehicle and building material sales soared. Some have connected this trend to the rebuilding of infrastructure following the disastrous Hurricane Florence.
US retail sales increased by 0.8% in October.
Additionally, September’s data was revised down to a 0.1% decrease instead of the 0.1% increase previously disclosed. October’s 0.8% increase is above the predicted 0.5% by economists. The total figure of retail and food services sales is 5.4% higher than this time last year.
In comparison to this time last year, furniture and home furniture store sales were up by 4.3%. Equally, electronics and appliance store sales increased by 4.3%. The highest jump from this time last year is sales from Gasoline stations, jumping by 15%. Interestingly, spending at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores dropped by 3.6%.
The strong US labour market, with unemployment levels at only 3.7%, is driving consumer spending. With the lowest unemployment rate in almost 49 years, wages are being boosted.
Today, the GBP has suffered a significant loss as a result of Brexit chaos. The GBP/USD is trading below 1.2800, a decrease of almost 1%. With all eyes on Theresa May, the markets seem ultimately concerned with UK press releases.
Against the EUR, the USD is trading round 1.1300. The pair also remains impacted by the UK’s political chaos, but moving to a lesser extent. The Italian budget crisis has been placed on hold until next week. However, US retail sales did come in mixed here. Though the October figure was above the 0.5% expectation, the September statistic was downwardly revised.
Elsewhere in the markets, the USD/JPY continue to slide towards 113. This is despite the positive US retail sales, which were not taken advantage of. The pair have been losing roughly 0.4% on a daily basis.
