The retail sales showed figures below expectations on performance in the month of February. This generated a rise in the dollar in the market and a fall in the stock markets.
The Sales fell 3% in February, with the consensus pointing to a 0.5% decline. On the positive side, the January figures were revised from 5.3% to 7.6%. The February drop was the steepest since April 2020. The annual rate decreased from 7.4% to 6.3%.
The sales without taking into account cars fell 2.7%, being that the average of analysts’ expectations was for a decline of only 0.1%. The January rise was revised from 5.9% to 8.3%.
Sales of the retail control group had a contraction of 3.5%, against -0.9% of the market consensus. In January it had risen 8.7% (revised from 6%).
The bad data for February was partly overshadowed by the important revisions to the January figures. Figures for industrial production, wholesale inventories and a real estate index will be released later on Tuesday. The focus is also on the Federal Reserve, which begins the two-day meeting today. On Wednesday the communiqué and new projections of the members of the FOMC will be known.
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