Lowering the US Q2 real GDP tracking estimate - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura offered their GDP tracking update after the retail sales data today.

Key Quotes:

"Retail sales data for July and backward revisions were close to our expectations. In addition, while the decline in utilities output suggests softer personal spending on utility services, autos production growth was slightly stronger than we had expected. Finally, the June business inventories report implies a modest downward revision to Q2 inventory accumulation. Altogether, after rounding, we lowered our Q2 real GDP tracking estimate by 0.1pp to 3.9% q-o-q saar, but our Q3 tracking estimate remains at 3.1%."