U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell to the lowest level in almost a year amid less favorable views on purchasing big-ticket items and persistent concerns about trade tensions, a University of Michigan report showed Friday. Sentiment index decreased to 95.3 (est. 98) from prior month™s 97.9; lowest since Sept., below all analyst estimates. Current conditions gauge, which measures Americans™ perceptions of their finances, fell to 107.8 from 114.4 in July; 6.6-point drop is biggest since Aug. 2011. Expectations measure unchanged at 87.3 . Expected change...
U.K. retail sales bounced back strongly in July as warmer weather and extended discounts at stores encouraged shoppers to open their wallets. Sales gained 0.7 percent from June, compared with a median estimate of a 0.2 percent gain in a Bloomberg survey. The increase was led by online sales, food and clothing, according to data from the Office for National Statistics in London. Excluding auto fuel, sales jumped 0.9 percent. Britons enjoyed a heat wave this summer that lifted spending, while the soccer World Cup helped boost sales of food and drink. Still, the warm weather may have...
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) dropped Australia's latest Unemployment Rate and Employment Change figures for July, with the seasonally-adjusted Unemployment Rate hitting 5.3%, and the m/m Employment Change missing expectations to print at a -3.9 thousand contraction against the forecast +15 thousand. Key highlights (via ABS) The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed decreased by around 4,000 persons in July 2018. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 5.3 per cent and the labour force participation rate decreased to 65.5 per cent. The net movement of...
U.S. retail sales rose by more than forecast in July as Americans snapped up clothes and headed to restaurants, extending solid consumer-spending gains to the start of the third quarter. The value of overall sales advanced 0.5 percent from June, whose gain was revised down to 0.2 percent, Commerce Department figures showed Wednesday. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.1 percent gain. Excluding purchases of autos and gasoline, sales climbed 0.6 percent, topping the median estimate for a 0.4 percent rise. The data suggest consumer spending is...
U.K. inflation accelerated for the first in eight months in July, boosted by the cost of auto fuel, transport tickets and computer games. Annual consumer-price growth quickened to 2.5 percent from 2.4 percent in June, as economist forecast, figures from the Office for National Statistics Wednesday show. The Bank of England had predicted inflation would pickup to 2.6 percent in July before resuming its downward path as the effect of sterlings post-Brexit referendum decline fades. Officials raised interest rates this month to tame price pressures in the labor market and indicated further...
Australian wages rose at a seasonally-adjusted rate of 0.6%, though some quarters of Australia noted still-sluggish growth in wages through the year. Key quotes (via BS) The seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.6 per cent in June quarter 2018 and 2.1 per cent through the year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Seasonally adjusted, private sector wages rose 2.0 per cent and public sector wages grew 2.4 per cent through the year to June quarter 2018. ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said "Wage growth in Australia has grown at an...
Japan's core consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in June from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.
The core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes fresh food...
The Institute for Supply Management said Friday that its non-manufacturing index fell to 55.7% in July, an 11-month low, from 59.1%.
Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a 58.6% reading. Any...
The U.K. services sector grew at a slower pace than forecast in July as the economy kicked off the third quarter on a 'disappointing' note.
IHS Markit said Friday its services Purchasing Managers...
Initial jobless claims, a tracker of sorts for layoffs in the U.S., crept higher at the end of July but clung near a half-century low.
New claims inched up by 1,000 to 218,000 in the seven days...