US Retail Sales Preview: Old news and largely priced into market levels

Retail Sales decline is expected to deepen and set new records while market reaction is likely to be muted, Joseph Trevisani, an analyst at FXStreet, reports.

Key quotes

“Retail Sales are forecast to decline 12% in April, half again as much as the March plunge and almost equaling the 12.4% crushing in the six months of the second half of 2008 when the financial crisis overwhelmed the US economy.” 

“Sales excluding automobiles are expected to drop 8.6% more than doubling the 4.2% decrease in March. The ‘control group’ which mimics the consumption category in the GDP calculation is projected to fall 4.6% also more than twice the 2% decline in March.”

“Equity, credit, and currency markets are likely to shrug off the April retail sales numbers, terrible as they will be, much as the Nonfarm Payrolls figures were ignored.”