News Bites
Correction: Gold Prices Unchanged On The Day Following 0.6% Rise In March Retail Sales
Editor's Note: Updating earlier story to include analyst comment and correcting to reflect sales rose, not fell.
(Kitco News) - The gold market remains muted and has largely ignored data showing U.S. consumers spent more last month.
On Monday, the U.S. Commerce Department said that March U.S. retail sales increased by 0.6% to $492 billion. The headline data was stronger than expected as economists were forecasting an increase of 0.4%. This was the first time the headline data beat expectations, ending a three-month losing streak. The increase comes after February saw a 0.1% decline in sales.
Core retail sales, which excludes auto and gasoline sales, increased by 0.2%, in line with expectations. The control group, which excludes purchases of autos, gasoline and construction materials, increased 0.4% last month, beating expectations for an increase of 0.3%
“Despite the upside surprise on headline retail sales for March, the comeback will not be enough to significantly boost Q1 growth,” said CIBC World Markets. “Weakness this quarter comes following strong spending at the end of last year, while residual seasonality in the data has also likely limited gains. That being said, tax cuts and a tighter labor market should support household spending going forward, and we expect consumption to accelerate over the remainder of the year as a result.”
As of 9:45 a.m. EDT, Comex June gold was up $1.90 for the day to $1,349.80 an ounce.
