terça-feira, 15 de abril de 2008

Retail Numbers: Worse Than They Look?

Retail Numbers: Worse Than They Look?

Howard Sun submits:

The retail sales numbers reported yesterday by the US Census Bureau leads us to the false belief that the numbers are actually quite good, since the 0.2% increase in March numbers was slightly better than the 0.1% increase analysts had predicted. A deeper dive analysis reveals that the situation is actually not as glamorous as many publications had reported:

  1. The reported numbers reflected the large gain in sales at gasoline service stations. Sales in most categories were quite bleak. For example, sales at general merchandise stores fell by 0.6% while specialty stores were down 0.5%.
  2. Although the month-to-month change looks good, a view of the Q1 change versus previous years shows a significant slowdown in growth since 2007. (See chart below; click to enlarge.)


Complete Story »

Nenhum comentário:

Minha lista de blogs