Economic Reports 08/13/07

Summary: Headline reads "solid sales" as seasonally adjusted retail sales improve. Hmmm, whats that funny smell??

Checking under the sheets... theres an omission... sales are up on price increases.

And there's a dirty little emission... non seasonally adjusted retail sales shows sequential decline across the board as John Q pulls back further.

Business Sales & Inventories confirming sales deceleration, inventory build and stagflation trends.

Soiled again... both reports clearly demonstrate a minimum YOY 8-11% increase in prices. Again, repeat Bennie & the Feds mantra: inflation is tame. Alrighty then...

Retail Sales Jul +0.3% vs prior -0.9%
Full Report

Inside the number: Retail Sales ex-auto +0.4% vs prior -0.4%. Sales ex auto & gas +0.6%.

Table 2B Non seasonally adjusted: Total retail sales food & service -1.6% vs prior -3.8%; ex auto -1.8% vs prior -3.2%; retail -1.9% vs prior -4.3%.

What about housing? building material & garden -6.7% vs prior -11.6% What about discretionary spending? miscellaneous retailers -8.2% vs prior -1.8%

Interesting codicil: Figures are not adjusted for price changes, seasonally adjusted YOY food & services increase +8%; non seasonally adjusted YOY +7.2%; non store retail prices +11.2%.

These price increases are either getting passed on to consumers or absorped as a margin loss.

Business Inventories Jun +0.4% vs prior +0.5%
Full Report

Inside the number: Total sales -0.3% vs +1.3%; YOY sales +3.3%; inventories +3.6%.

Manufacturer: -0.6% vs +0.8%; YOY -0.9% Inventories: +0.3% vs +0.4%; YOY +3.7%
Retailer: -0.9% vs +1.7%; YOY +3.7% Inventories +0.5% vs +0.7%; YOY +1.3%
Wholesale: +0.6% vs +1.3%; YOY +8.1% Inventories +0.5% vs +0.5%; YOY +6.3%

Interesting codicil: Figures are not adjusted for price changes. Seasonally adjusted YOY wholesale price increase of +8.1% is either getting passed on to consumers or absorped as a margin loss.

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