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SHANGHAI—Signs of weakness in China’s economy stretched into October, with one measure of investment notching the sharpest slowdown in years.
Momentum in retail sales and industrial production slowed, while investment and the property market continued to struggle, according to data released Friday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
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Hannah Miao
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Retail sales in the eurozone unexpectedly inched lower in September, contrasting with some of the rosier sentiment among consumers in recent months.
Volumes fell back 0.1%, the same rate as in August, statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had instead expected a 0.2% increase.
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Ed Frankl
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By Joshua Kirby
Retail sales fell more sharply than expected in the U.K. in December, offering little succor to a listless economy at the end of the year.
Total trade volumes were 3.2% lower than a month earlier, according to figures published Friday by the Office for National Statistics.
This was worse than the slight dip expected, according to a Wall Street Journal poll of economists. It reverses rising sales in November, boosted by Black Friday promotions as well as lower inflation. Retailers reported that many shoppers stocked up on Christmas food and gifts in November, weighing on December’s spending.
For the quarter as a whole, retail sales were 0.9% lower than the previous three months, and will have a negative contribution to wider economic growth over the period, the ONS said.
Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby
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Developing story. Check back for updates.
The numbers: Sales at U.S. retailers jumped a bigger-than-expected 0.7% in September in a sign households have enough buying power to keep the economy expanding.
The increase was spurred by strong demand at auto dealers and Internet stores. Higher gas prices also played a role, however.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.2% increase in sales.
Retail sales represent about one-third of all consumer spending and usually offer clues on the strength of the economy.
Yet September also falls between the busy back-to-school and holiday-shopping seasons and tends to reveal less about how consumers are doing.
Key details: Auto dealers posted a 1% gain in sales and helped to inflate the headline number. Auto sales account for about 20% of all retail sales.
Receipts at gas stations also rose nearly 1%, but that largely reflected higher gas prices. That’s not a good thing for households.
Retail sales advanced a still-robust 0.6% when car dealers and gas stations are set aside, which gives a better idea of consumer demand.
Sales at internet retailers stayed on a hot streak. They rose 1.1%.
Sales climbed 0.9%% at bars and restaurants. Restaurant sales tend to rise when the economy is healthy and Americans feel secure in their jobs. Sales decline during times of economic stress.
Over the past year, restaurant sales have surged 9.2% — more than twice as fast as inflation.
On the negative side of the ledger, sales fell at big-box electronics stores, clothing stores and home centers such as Home Depot
HD,
and Lowe’s
LOW,
Sales in August were also revised up to show a 0.8% increase instead of 0.6%.
Big picture: The retail sales report is the latest to suggest the economy is still expanding at solid pace and perhaps not decelerating as much as the Federal Reserve would like to help slow the rate of inflation.
Consumer spending has stayed fairly healthy because of rising wages and the lowest unemployment rate in decades. What’s more, incomes are finally increasing faster than inflation for the first time in a few years.
Yet higher interest rates are pinching households and businesses and are bound to slow the economy in the months ahead. If so, retail spending is also likely to soften.
Looking ahead: “Consumer spending shows little sign of flagging, especially when purchases increased on everything from durable goods, such as autos, to the least durable goods, food and drink at bars and restaurants,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
“As long as the jobs market remains healthy, consumers should have the cash and confidence to maintain spending.”
Market reaction: Before the markets opened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
and S&P 500
SPX
were set to open lower in Tuesday trades.
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By Michael Susin
Retail sales growth in the U.K. slowed in September despite a fall in inflation as the high cost of living continues to put households’ budget under pressure, according to the latest sales-monitor report from the British Retail Consortium published on Tuesday.
Total retail sales for the five weeks to Sept. 30 increased by 2.7% compared with the prior month, when it saw growth of 4.1%, and was at the same level as the three-month average growth, the report said. In September last year, retail sales were up 2.2%.
Food sales rose 7.4% over the three months to September, while non-food sales further decreased 1.2%.
“Big ticket items such as furniture and electricals performed poorly as consumers limited spending in the face of higher housing, rental and fuel costs. The Indian summer also meant sales of autumnal clothing, knitwear and coats, have yet to materialize,” BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said in a note.
Looking ahead, retailers are getting ready for the ‘Golden Quarter’ amid fierce competition that is likely to bring earlier and abundant promotions ahead of Christmas, KPMG U.K. Head of retail Paul Martin said.
“Consumers will continue to seek out good deals, with price driving purchasing decisions. This is likely to be one of the most important golden quarters that we have seen in years, as for some in the sector, it could very much determine their future,” he adds.
Dickinson highlighted that retailers’ efforts might be challenged by the 400 million pounds ($489.6 million) increase in business rates expected next year, and urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to scrap the rates rise in the upcoming budget statement.
Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com
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By Ed Frankl
U.K. retail sales fell more than expected in July, driven by both declining food and nonfood purchases, with clothes sales especially suffering amid unseasonably wet weather in the month.
Retail-sales volumes ticked down 1.2% on month, a swing from the 0.6% increase in June, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday.
The reading was compares with expectations of a 0.4% decline in volumes from a consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
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Investors were jolted by a stronger-than-expected retail sales report on Tuesday, which underscores the dual-edged sword now facing markets.
July’s 0.7% surge in retail sales is helping to bolster the view that a resilient U.S. economy can avoid a recession, despite more than a year of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. However, the data also serves as another piece of information that some policy makers can use to support even more hikes in the final four months of this year, and left the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield…
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The numbers: Sales at retailers dropped 1% in March and declined for the fourth time in the past five months, reflecting a slowdown in the U.S. economy and a shift in consumer-spending habits.
Retail sales are a big part of consumer spending and offer clues about the strength of the economy. Sales had been forecast to drop 0.4%, based on a Wall Street Journal poll of economists.
Receipts shrank a smaller 0.3% if auto dealers and gas stations are excluded. Car and gasoline purchases exaggerate overall retail spending.
Key details: Sales in March posted the biggest decline in four months, largely because of lower auto and gasoline sales.
A late Easter holiday might have also shifted some sales into April that normally would have taken place in March, economists say.
Sales of new vehicles and parts, an up-and-down category, fell a sharp 1.6% last month.
Receipts at gas stations declined 5.5% largely because of lower oil prices. It’s a good thing when Americans spend less on gas, however.
Americans are likely to pay more for gas in April, though, after the oil cartel OPEC cut production and prices surged.
Even after setting aside car dealers and gas stations, retail sales were weak. Sales fell in most major categories, including home centers, electronics stores and department stores.
The only segment to stand out: Internet retailers. Sales jumped 1.9%.
One category economists watch closely is bars and restaurants, the only service sector in the retail report. Restaurant receipts rose a tepid 0.1% last month after a 1.6% decline in February.
Restaurant sales tend to rise when the economy is healthy and Americans feel secure in their jobs. Sales slack off during times of economic distress.
Big picture: Retail sales haven’t fallen off a cliff, but they also aren’t rising rapidly like they did in 2021 and early 2022.
How come? High inflation has eaten away at household incomes. Government pandemic stimulus has dried up. And rising interest rates have made purchases of big-ticket items such as cars more expensive.
Americans are still spending plenty to get out and about, however.
Americans have been spending more on services such as travel, hospitality and recreation and less on goods such as consumer electronics and home-office supplies. That’s a big reversal of what happened during the pandemic.
That’s helping to keep the economy afloat. If the economy continues to slow, however, spending on services could also go slack.
Looking ahead: “U.S. retail sales fell sharply in March as consumers became more cautious, adding to other recent data releases that have signaled a deterioration [in the economy],” said economist Katherine Judge of CIBC Economics.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
and S&P 500
SPX,
fell in Friday trades after Federal Reserve Gov. Chris Waller said interest rates need to keep rising to squelch high U.S. inflation.
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