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Gold prices push higher following 1.9% drop in U.S. retail sales

Neils Christensen

Kitco News

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(Kitco News) - Gold prices have pushed higher as consumers shopped less than expected in December, during what many have described was a disappointing holiday shopping season.

U.S. retail sales fell 1.9% last month, down from November’s 0.3% increase according to the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department, released Friday; the data significantly missed expectations as economists were forecasting an unchanged reading.

Meanwhile, core retail sales fell 2.3% in December, down from November’s 0.3% increase. Economists were expecting to see a 0.2% increase.

The control group, which excludes autos, gas, building materials, and food services and feeds directly into GDP calculations, fell 3.1%. Economists were expecting to see a 0.1% rise.

The gold market is seeing new bullish momentum following the disappointing economic data. Spot gold last traded at $1,824.10 an ounce, up 0.10 on the day.

Adam Button, chief currency strategist at Forexlive.com said that the control group saw its largest fall since February 2021.

“There was some considerable hand-wringing about a soft reading in retail sales due to credit card spending data and that proved to be the case. The numbers were even worse than speculated,” he said.

By Neils Christensen

For Kitco News

Contact nchristensen@kitco.com
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