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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jan 16, 2008 4:30:44 GMT -6
December Retail Sales Declined -0.4%—far worse than the +0.1% predicted by the markets. But even this is an understatement, as November Retail Sales were revised downward. Without the downward revision of November numbers, December Retail Sales were down -0.7%. Comparing the the originally reported annual Retail Sales for 2006 , there was an increase of +3.3% for the 12 months ending in December 2007. This, however, is in current dollars. Factoring in inflation by using the Consumer Price Index increase of 4.3%, makes inflation-adjusted Retail Sales down -1.0% for 2007, compared to 2006. Most of the decline has occurred over the last 3 months. The Consumer Price Index increased 1.1% from September through November (December CPI comes out tomorrow.) Retail Sales have increased +0.5% in current dollars in the 4th quarter. Factoring in the only the 2-month CPI increase of 1.1% gives a real change in Retail Sales of -0.6% in the 4th quarter. Factoring in the predicted increase in CPI for December of +0.2%, inflation-adjusted Retail Sales drop to -0.8%. The Recession has arrived.
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Post by blueneck on Jan 16, 2008 5:31:31 GMT -6
For any one that works in manufacturing and or lives in the industrial midwest and great lakes the recession has been here - for quite a while
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