US retail sales rose +0.2% in August, and core sales rose +0.1%. Expectations stood on +0.3% and +0.2%. However, revisions were positive: July was revised up from +0.6% to +0.7% and the core number was updated to +0.6% from +0.4% originally reported. Another subset of items resulted in a small beat: 0.4% instead of +0.3% expected. This control group also contributes to a better impression than the headline figures.
So, revisions certainly beat the small miss on the headline numbers. However the New York Fed Manufacturing Index hit -14.67 points instead of a predicted rise.
Currencies jumped up and down, with the dollar strengthening just a bit in the aftermath. Update: the US dollar seems to gain further momentum after the initial reaction, with EUR/USD slipping below 1.13.
However, the changes are not that big. Tension is mounting towards the all important Fed decision on Thursday, and these figures probably do little to change the overall picture.
Fed decision – all the updates
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