Thursday, May 13, 2010

SpendingPulse Reports Retail Sales Drop 2 Percent; UCLA Ceridian Commerce Index Drops .3 Percent; Recovery Has Stalled

Inquiring minds are reading the April SpendingPulseâ„¢ Retail Sales Report provided by MasterCard Advisors. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SpendingP ... l?x=0&.v=1

Kamalesh Rao, Director of Economic Research for MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, reported that following three months of steady, month-to-month growth averaging about 2%, total U.S. retail sales ex-auto stopped to catch its breath in April, falling by 2% since March on a seasonally adjusted basis. Taking out gasoline, the month-to-month number performed better, rising 0.3%, also on a seasonally adjusted basis, but not as strong as the 1.5% average of the previous quarter.

“Although there were pockets of strength, for example double digit growth in luxury sales and eCommerce, retail sales overall seemed to have lost some momentum in April. However, this is not untypical of a recovery, which will happen in fits and starts, rather than by taking a direct path,â€