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Economy in Brief
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounds
Industrial production jumped a greater-than-expected 0.6% (3.9% year-on-year) during November...
U.S. Business Inventory Accumulation Picks Up
Total business inventories increased 0.6% (5.1% y/y) during October...
U.S. Import Prices Weaken As Petroleum Prices Fall; Export Prices Also Decline
Import prices fell 1.6% (+0.7% y/y) during November following an unrevised 0.5% October rise...
U.S. Government Budget Deficit Surges Unexpectedly
The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $204.9 billion budget deficit during November...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Decline
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 206,000 (-7.6% y/y) during the week ended December 8...
by Robert Brusca October 3, 2007
Retail volumes grew by just 0.1% in the Euro area 13 in August. This follows an upwardly-revised +0.4% in July. That is not an auspicious start to the quarter. However since Q2 ended on such a strong note, again of 0.6% that has sent Q3 off on a relatively firm note so that the gains so far in the quarter have been helped by that momentum. As a result, quarter-to-date growth in EMU is strong. Sales volumes overall are expanding at a 3% pace with food expenditures up at a pace of 0.6%; nonfood spending is expanding at a pace of 4% all annualized at the two-month market in the new quarter.
Still the individual country results are disparate. For Germany, sales are up at just a 2.1% pace in the quarter; for the UK the pace is a very hefty 8.1%. French figures are not yet available but France has been tracking on the high side. Still for EMU as a whole the pace of retail sales seems to be slowing. What the EMU post for the quarter will still depend importantly on what consumers do in September.
| Euro Area 13 Retail Sales Volume | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug-07 | Jul-07 | Jun-07 | 3-Mo | 6-MO | 12-Mo | |
| Euro Area 13 Total | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 4.5% | 1.9% | 0.7% |
| Food | 0.2% | 0.3% | -0.1% | 2.0% | 0.6% | 0.3% |
| Nonfood | -0.1% | 0.4% | 1.1% | 5.6% | 2.2% | 0.8% |
| Textiles | #N/A | 0.8% | 2.9% | 0.6% | 5.6% | 4.9% |
| HH Goods | #N/A | 0.2% | 1.4% | 4.9% | 3.3% | 3.7% |
| Books news, etc | #N/A | 0.2% | 1.6% | 3.9% | 3.4% | 3.3% |
| Pharmaceutical | #N/A | 0.3% | 0.2% | 3.8% | 3.7% | 3.3% |
| Other Nonspecified | #N/A | -0.1% | 1.3% | 2.2% | 3.4% | 1.1% |
| Mail order | #N/A | 0.9% | -0.1% | 9.3% | 9.5% | 1.6% |
| Nonfood Country Detail Volume | ||||||
| Germany | 0.9% | -0.5% | 3.0% | 14.5% | 2.1% | -2.7% |
| France | #N/A | 0.4% | 1.3% | 7.9% | 6.5% | 5.8% |
| Italy (Total; Value) | #N/A | -0.1% | 0.0% | -1.1% | -1.6% | -1.1% |
| UK (EU) | 0.7% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 10.2% | 7.5% | 7.0% |
| Shaded areas calculated on a one-month lag due to lagging data | ||||||
| The EA 13 countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. | ||||||
