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Big Retail Sales Miss In Longest Collapse Streak Since 2008 Recession, Confirms US Consumer Zombification
Today's advance retail sales for June was simply abysmal, printing at -0.5% on the headline, and -0.4% ex autos. Expectations were for a print of +0.2% on the headline and unchanged less autos. Gas was not the culprit either as ex autos and gas the miss was -0.2%, on expectations of a +0.2% print. This was the third consecutive drop in a row: the longest since December 2008, when the US economy was flat out imploding. Expect furious Q2 GDP revisions imminently once the sellside community plugs this number into bean counter abaci. Goldman will likely cut its recently downgraded Q2 GDP from 1.3% to 1.1% or even sub 1.0%, which is essentially stall speed. Finally, today's number confirms our biggest worry: the spike in May consumer credit was not for discretionary purchases: it was for staples. Do the math. Finally, building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers down 1.6%, the biggest sequential drop aside from gas stations. At least housing has "bottomed." Of course, EURUSD spiking on expectations of more imminent NEW QE.
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food stamp shortage :)
"Sentient beings say the US Economic Recovery is yet to show a pulse"
"Economists say all is well".
What this article doesn't take into account is that retail sales are now completely manipulated. How can you just talk about "retail sales" without mentioning our Federal Reserve's tightening, or the fact that banks refuse to lend? These are all factors which comlpetely distort retail sales, and prevent them from reflecting true aggregate demand. Sales would be far higher if people could get access to the credit they deserve, but without help from our Federal Reserve and congress, aggregate demand cannot reach a natural equilibrium.
Outright lies? Shame, shame, MDB.
Indeed, with infinite wants, and sufficient credit, there would be no limit on aggregate demand! Bullish for castles in the sky.
LOL, I don't think most people on here are smart enough to understand your humor. It was subtle, but "if people could get access to the credit they deserve" was the tell.
I think retail is humming along fine, it's just not what the retail industry wants the numbers to be. How dare Americans consume less and balance their budgets!
Secretly, he's raging over his keyboard saying "What the HELL do I have to say without the use of wimpy /sarc tags to get these people to realize that I can't possibly be serious?!? AHBRLARGBLARGBLAR"
Yes. He got me last week. Someone needs to put a bell around his neck, or a [sarc] tag next to his screen name.
He got you last week?? You've been at ZH for more than 2 years and he got you? Amazing.
This should surprise no one. I know my recent credit purchases have all involved bean, bullets, or bandaids...
"the spike in May consumer credit was not for discretionary purchases: it was for staples. Do the math." Oh Snap!
Hope and Change worked well as did QE and twist. Kenysian economics DOES NOT work, we will now bite the bullett with almost 16 Trillion in debt and no country on this planet will deal with us.
Calm down, calm down, Bloomberg is reporting that the hot weather is keeping consumers home.
When food doubles in price, that should help retail sales?
Corn may break through $8/bu this week (maybe tomorrow). Wheat up big also.
Is the $10 six-pack of Bud (made from rice and corn) possible EOY?
Beer isn't supposed to be made out of rice or corn.
THIS IS AMERICA, BABY. CHEAP BEER! FUCK PEOPLE!
No German purity laws here, bitchez.
And sausages are not supposed to be made of mechanically separated, processed chicken.
But if you want to sell dollar beer and hot dogs, that's what you sell. Hard to draw people in with $4 Guiness and $4 bratwurst, even when both the taste and quality are clearly 4 times better.
Yes - must have money left over for the important things like filling up the F350 King Ranch Edition.
LOL. Yesterday I saw an F350 King Ranch, duallie, with the Harley Davidson trim package. No tow hitch or fifth wheel.
How small does a guy's dick have to be to plunk down $50K+ for "privelige" of driving around in something like that?
Once they execute their smash and grab in the gold market I expect credit card purchases to spike (at least I'll be contributing).. thinking maybe 1300ish or so for the blue light special.
Only the unsophisticated communists do smash and grab. We here in west do stealth confiscation, we are civilized.
Chairsatan speaks on Thursday to Congession Finance Cmttee..
Gold raid for sure,its happened the last four times he spoke.
Now factor in channel stuffing in autos and the number is much, much worse.
Recession fully back on the table for the talking heads. Not gonna like that.
Kenysian econ works when the lone goal is to pump markets up to get a president re elected. Not saying he will but if the market traded at reality it for sure would not.
Indeed. They have already admitted the market is 50% bloated from easing.
Kenyan econ ... fixed it. It would be funny if it were not so true.
Time for Benny Bernanke and the Fed to print more, the US deficit to target $20 trillion and higher. Cash for consumer time.
Banksters have saturated the economy with debt.
The banksters built an economy on spending and debt rather than savings and investment.
When the deficits are no longer maintainable is when the can-kicking stops. Until then, watch the deficits and the BS build.
"The banksters built an economy on spending and debt rather than savings and investment"
This is the exact opposite of what my father taught me..he was alive during the Depression....he hated bankers and never had a loan the rest of his life.....always saved for his purchases...
All by themselves, huh?
Why does that debt need to be paid? Seems, I dunno....odious, given the false pretenses presented by the banks to markets around the world and all. ;)
They did this because it was their ticket to control. It's like the crack dealer giving out free samples until he has you hooked. It was easy to make the case for massive debts and now look where we are! And no political figure will do anything substantial about the problem, so that means the hard landing is inevitable.
Would have been much worse if not for my wife and kids.
Wife and I bought a new Civic in June. Put down the same as we did 5 years ago for the 07 Civic and the payments are exactly the same today. No inflation?
payments are the same != cost is the same
I think you are missing a few variables in your comparison, even when the down payment is the same.
I'm not sure cars are a good measure--we're seeing the most price increases in goods that are necessities. The prices of tvs are flat to negative, other durables are steady, cars, who knows? A new car is not a necessity. The .gov tried to run new car prices back up by squeezing the used market with the misguided Cash for Clunkers deal, but that sugar high is wearing off, obviously. I guess my household "needs" one new econo-box type car, but instead, we're going to just keep driving (and fixing) what we have for another year or two. I fix my own cars, so I'm already a weirdo in the US, anyways. All I'm saying is that auto manufacturers are really feeling the squeeze as Americans continue to tighten their belts.
J6P cashed out his 401K to buy beans.
B. Biggs bought the big one I noticed.
That's a theory, but no substantial proof exists to back it up. The people in trouble right now are the ones who didn't have 401Ks to begin with, so I'm having a problem even humoring you.
WHAT.....but i thought lower gas prices meant that consumers would buy more crap that don't need with money they don't have.
Seriously, the number of "sale" emails i get daily and the level of discounting, foreshadowed this result.
No kidding, glad to hear it's not just me. I have to water cool the microprocessor in my computer just to keep up with the work my spam filter is doing the last month or two...
Yup. The sickly sweet parfum of desperation drifts in the air alright.
Definitely has that, "Please God help me make this quarter" vibe.
People know oil will come back up to ridiculous levels at the first cool breeze. With the corn crop failing food prices take the place of "cheaper" oil. At this point there are no more "savings" only less demand as America goes deeper into financial coma.
I would like to see a chart showing the history of gasoline prices preceding presidential elections.
ask the man himself Mitt Romney - why has retail sales collapsed???
YouTube - Which way are the political winds blowing? Ask Mitt the Human Weather Vane - part man, part machine
Maybe they're taking Mitt at his word and doing their part to halt the flow of Chinese goods through Walton stores the only way that will work: not buying them.
Yikes! They even revised May down!!
You silly people. Bad is good and good is gooder. Futures to turn green with a green day ahead.
Close Staples.
The drought is more than just lack of rain.
In this case it's a clan of beavers upriver (pun originally unintended, but allowed to stand once recognized).
I'm going long Staples!
Oh wait, nevermind....
Now if only Obama could have all his lemming followers become entrepreneurs, the economy would be revitalized !! See its SOO EASY !! Any idiot can be a successful entrepreneur ! At the end its not the individual brilliance that matters but the COMMUNITY ! These evils capitalists tsk tsk ... they just dont see the good of the collectivist mentality !! THe solution is so simple, its right under their nose !!
Thanks, tiger. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
never fear. Ben will get on the bat-phone and make sure the algos print the SP a 1360..cant wake the sheeple up and the their panties all in a bunch
Well at least Big Brother is busy keeping us demoralized with their new 'we know where you are and we will text you when we feel like it' program:
http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2012/05/what-you-need-to-kno...
Do I have a choice about receiving the alerts? You can opt out of the AMBER and weather alerts but not Presidential Alerts.
How do they know which alerts to send me? The emergency alerts will be location-based, so you'll receive alert texts appropriate to your current whereabouts. GPS isn't necessary; you'll receive alerts from whichever cell-phone tower you're closest to.
Will I be charged to receive alerts? According to CTIA - The Wireless Association, you will not be charged. The alerts are similar to text messages, but "Wireless Emergency Alerts use a different kind of technology to ensure they are delivered immediately and are not subjected to potential congestion (or delays) on wireless networks," says the agency.
I got one that said, "Look up and smile!"
I got one that said, "You forgot to wash your hands!"
You are no longer a citizen, you are an "aquired target"
Don't go for the Big Gulp, it will be messy
if you're an old dying fart, your end-of-life care will come from above
Push the wrong button, mark the wrong circle when voting, then risk going to your car (boom)
Sneak into a gentlemen's club, your wife gets an instant photo
oh, the possiblities are endless
Your fly is open.
Can I opt out by leaving my damn phone at home? Currently, yes. However, the world moving to a cashless economy will soon make carriage of your cellphone essential. We realise this may sometimes be inconvenient, for example - in the swimming pool, so Phase 2 will replace the phone with an embedded microprocessor and wireless device. Phase 3 will enhance this system with the addition of a wireless receiver linked to a bone-conduction speaker embedded in your mastoid process, ensuring that important Government messages are never missed.
EUR/USD going to feel some repatriation love at the bell.
Vomit Comet.
A box of 25,000 standard staples is $5.49 at, well, staples.com.
I wonder why no staplers or paper?! Guess I better get me some before there's a shortage.
Now reading Charles Ferguson's "Predator Nation" and if you want to read a wonderful synopsis of just how corrupt governments have become, grab it. The Fed, the Bank of England, and the ECB are all in one giant Ponzi-Circle-Jerk that can only end very badly.
Wow... Unexpectedly!
Many of us understand what has been done to larger companies via overregulation and government restrictions.
How much of retail sails is now being impacted by a lack of new and innovative products NOT moving from the mom and pop businesses(because they can no longer even get a start) because they have also been squeezed out of the equation for so many years because of overregulation and government regulations?
Choked off in both directions.
This is satire, right?
Consumers are broke, jobs are disappearing or turning into part-time positions, the banks keep stealing from the 99% via hidden bailouts, thanks to the Fed and Fuckhead Geithner.
WTF are you talking about? Oh wait, you're giving us one of the Red team/Blue team clown acts, the daily official narrative from Robot Romney Central.
Man, that's so tired. Go sell that brand of stupid somewhere else. Fucking bankster puppet.
WTF are you talking about?
Government hates corporate profits on the one hand, and your kids cannot even run a lemonade stand without government intervening.
That's what I am talking about.
Entrepreneurs cannot even get started today before the are regulated to a halt.
And you wonder why there is nothing in the stores to drive sales higher?
That's what I am talking about.
And forget that dialogue about consumers being broke. They have plenty of money for whatevever they REALLY want. They just do not want any of what is being offered, and the rest of you are wondering why.
The only companies that can create new products are the large corproations. It isn't worth it for an individual trying to create a new product. Without massive connections you will never get in front of a retail buyer. If by some miracle you do, you won't be able to produce your idea for a price that is acceptable.
Base margin for mass retail is 55% plus at least 6% for add-ons like advertising allowance, defective product, etc. That means if you have a $10 retail item the mass retailer will want to pay $3.80. You better know somebody in China. Oh, you better also have a line of credit up to $2 million for purchasing inventory and you won't be apid for at least six months from the PO date.
You may want to try to impress the "As Seen on TV" Jews. But, they are more likey to steal your idea and the margins are even worse. They work on the Happy Meal principle. A $19.99 as seen on TV product must be produced for less than $1. There are some exceptions where the cost can go to $5, but then it becomes $29.95. Your cut is usually $.10 per item sold. You'll have the pleasure of knowing your product is being used exclusively to steal people's money and ripp them off with a shoddy product.
You can bust your ass and try to sell local, and probably spend $100 travelling around to write $100 in orders.
Is it no wonder that the new boom in business is fraud?
Look at Kickstarter. Never before have I seen small individual fraud on such a massive scale. Less than 50% of the projects are ever fully funded, less than 50% of the funded projects are ever made. People think they are placing an order for a finished product, but 99% of the time it is a rendering of a product that will never be made. Whatever you pledge, you don't get back.
It is the old fraud of taking $1 from 1000 people because each person losing $1 is not that big of a deal, whereas if you take $1000 from 1 person, that guy is coming after you.
The goal was never to help people, the goal is to hype something
that can be IPO'd making the fraudsters millions.
"The goal was never to help people, the goal is to hype something that can be IPO'd making the fraudsters millions."
I got yer Hope and Change right here!
July is going to be worse. People were actually shopping in June.
I talked to a few people in Target looking at school supplies. They were writing down what they have. The women all said they are going to wait until school starts to buy the supplies because they know Target will put everything 50% off and then drop stuff to 75% a week later.
Nothing moved in summer seasonal until it was at least 50% off.
Reality is asserting itself. People don't have enough money to pay for the inflated prices of everything. Historical 20% profit margins will be coming back to retail. The consumer will no longer pay $20 for an item that was bought by the retailer for $7.
The problem is the immense overhead of big retail will destroy it with margins like that. Deflation is the only outcome when the population can't afford anything. At least when the free market allows it. Supply and demand says if nobody buys at price X, you must lower it until somebody does.
Was in a local store this weekend. Huge summer clothing clearance sale. Talked to an employee who has been at the same store for 20 years and he said he has never seen so much summer clothing inventory left over or marked down as much as it was. It was finally moving at well over 50% off retail.
July sales are dismal. Every store is nearly empty even with 60% discounts AND cash back rewards. I have never seen it so bad.
Same here. Been seening tons of sales with big percentage mark downs. At first I thought some of the stores were having a going out of business sale. Perhaps they just don't know it yet.
like the poster said above, all my cc purchases have been for beans, bullets and bandaids.
spent nearly 40 years in the jewelry trades, the mom and pop jewelers are all but gone!!
survivingsurvivalism.com
Zombieland? Yes, retail sales ARE mortifying.
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/good-new-for-residential-mortgage-rates-retail-sales-fall-again-goldman-cuts-q2-gdp-to-1-1/
China's retail sales up 13.7% in June
Posted: 13 July 2012 1035 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/121...
Bernanke, Obama, Krugman, and even Romney:
"ZOMG! OUR recovery! It's melting! It's melting!!!!!11111"
Watch for a couple of name retailers to go under after Black Friday - if they even make it to November.
Uh oh, Larry Summers just made a prediction:
Whatever Larry says, the opposite usually happens. Weare so fucked lol.
Unless by "eventually", he means in 2033, when the aliens arrive.
" Even if I wipe out Harvard's Endowment fund, it will eventually recover (I'm so smart, even my blunders are magnificent) (smile)."
"Expect furious Q2 GDP revisions imminently once the sellside community plugs this number into bean counter abaci."
Whoever wrote this is reaching literary Taibbi-ness. Very cool sentence. I lol-ed.
REITs pushing through new 52 week highs.
Man, you gotta give credit to the sheer audacity.