department stores

The Expanded Retail Sales Gap

By |2017-04-17T16:10:55-04:00April 17th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Retail sales growth in February 2017 was going to be low by virtue of its comparison to February 2016 and the extra day in that month. The Census Bureau’s autoregressive models are supposed to normalize just these kinds of calendar irregularities so that we can make something close to apples to apples comparisons. The seasonally-adjusted estimate for February, however, was [...]

Headwinds Of The Negative Feedback

By |2017-03-01T17:45:19-05:00March 1st, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

As oil prices remain as they are in relation to where they were one year ago, measured inflation rates have come back up, some faster than others. This does mimic the real world situation where consumers are paying more now for gasoline than they did last year. Even though they are paying less than three years ago for the same [...]

A Detailed Look At Target Is A Familiar Review of More Than Target

By |2017-02-28T19:31:31-05:00February 28th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Target announced both bad results as well as distressing guidance. The retail giant has been under pressure, and its quarterly update for its Q4 only confirmed the concerns. The company first reported the worst comparable store sales numbers (-1.5%) in three years. It was the third straight quarterly contraction for its comparables. For stores open at least a year, same [...]

Even When It’s Different It’s Really Not

By |2017-02-15T16:30:57-05:00February 15th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Retail sales grew by 4.92% year-over-year in January 2017, the third consecutive month of gains around 5%. It was the first time for three months near that level since 2014. Given the behavior of the economy in the second half of last year it is almost eerie the similarity in behavior to the 2013-14 period. The statistics for neither period [...]

Retail Sales Redistribution, Not Recovery

By |2017-01-13T12:18:30-05:00January 13th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The term “brick and mortar” has come to be a mostly 21st century antonym for online shopping. It was first used in the banking industry as far back as the early 1970’s. Banks led the adoption of innovations, foreseeing the possible gains in communication technology and not just in the eurodollar context of “floating” currency (shadow banking). Computerization even at [...]

Retail Sales Slump Back; Auto Sales In Particular

By |2016-06-14T16:09:21-04:00June 14th, 2016|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

As with other economic accounts, retail sales dropped back in May after the temporary rebound coincident to calendar effects. Overall sales, including autos, grew just 1.9% over May 2015, well below the 3% level that historically defines recessionary conditions. That growth rate was the 39th worst in the entire data series (out of 281 months), placing it in the lower [...]

Go to Top