Read the highlights of this week’s commentary from Helios:
Retail sales slid further in December, falling 1.1% after the 1.0% decline in November. This partially reflects a consumer that is likely continuing to shift back towards services, but also the slow down in the overall consumer, which has been the engine driving the economy, as the Fed’s tightening continues to ripple throughout the economy.
Industrial production fell by 0.7% in December, well below the – 0.1% decline that economists had expected and making it the third consecutive monthly decline. Also, November’s decline was revised downward to -0.6% from the initial -0.2% report.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand fell 0.5% with annual headline PPI slowing down from 7.3% to 6.2%. The declines point to continued downward momentum in goods inflation/disinflation.
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