US Retail Sales Surge

Retail sales volumes in July were 1.4% higher than a year ago, the Office for National Statistics said, in line with economists' median forecast in a Reuters poll

Compared with February 2020, the last month before COVID-19 lockdowns started, sales volumes are still 0.8% lower

Retail sales increased 1.0 per cent last month, well above market forecasts for a 0.3 per cent gain, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said

Retail sales increased 1.0 per cent last month after a downwardly revised 0.2 per cent drop in June, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Thursday

Global stock markets were mixed and Wall Street futures were lower Wednesday after positive US retail sales data helped to offset concern the Federal Reserve might consider more rate hikes to cool inflation. London and Frankfurt opened lower. Tokyo and Seoul advanced, while Shanghai declined. Oil prices rose more $1 to stay above $110 per barrel. On Wall Street, the future for the S&P 500 index was down 0.4% after the market benchmark rose by 2% on Tuesday. That came after positive US retail sales data helped to offset worries about inflation and rate hikes. The Fed will have to consider moving more aggressively if inflation that is running at a four-decade high fails to ease after earlier rate hikes, chair Jerome Powell said at a Wall Street Journal conference. Expectations of rate hikes ticked higher due to Powell's comments, but markets are shrugging it off and are in need of a breather after a selloff, Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report. In early trading, the FTSE 100 in ...

U.S. retail sales increased strongly in April suggested demand was holding strong despite high inflation and assuaged some fears that the economy was heading into recession

Much of last month's growth came from spending at restaurants and bars, which are just starting to let people in to eat and drink

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 123.53 points, or 0.46 per cent, at the open to 26,746.57

Retail sales accelerated 5.8 percent on an annual basis