According to analysts from Wells Fargo, the revisions of the retail sales report of February to January numbers reversed the bullish start of 2016.
Key Quotes:
“Retail sales were “better” than expected in February, down only 0.1 percent, but revisions to January’s number reverse the upbeat sentiment for the U.S. consumer at the beginning of the year.”
“The disappointing retail sales number this morning, which included a large revision to the originally strong release for January, will reverberate with markets for the rest of the week and perhaps send analysts back to the GDP revision drawing board.”
“On the positive side, for retail sales and for the U.S. consumer, gasoline stations sales plunged 4.4 percent during the month, which is basically a price-play.”
“Another surprise during this release was the downward revision to the control sales group, which feed directly into the calculation of GDP. The control sales group was flat in February, at 0.0 percent, but it was revised down from an originally reported 0.6 percent to 0.2 percent in January.”
“Even with this revision, we still believe that the U.S. consumer will lead the way in terms of GDP growth during the first quarter of the year. Furthermore, revisions to these first two months’ numbers cannot be discounted over the next couple of months.”
“At any rate, March’s retail sales will probably be strong, helped by the recent rebound in gasoline prices.”
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)