| Economic Event | Retail Sales |
| Units | Percentage Change from Previous Period |
| Current Period | Mar 2011 |
| Release Date | Apr. 13. 11 |
| Reported | 0.4 |
| Consensus for Current Period | 0.5 |
| Number of Forecasts | 63 |
| Economic Surprise | -0.1 ( -20.00 % ) |
| Prior Period | Feb 2011 |
| Reported Value for Prior Period | 1.1 |
| Revised From | 1 |
| Next Release Date | May. 12. 11 |
| Next Release Time | 8:30 AM Eastern Time |
| Source | http://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf |
| Note | |
| Description | Retail Sales report details the dollar value of purchases made at retail stores: (e.g. auto dealers, department stores, etc.). It is the first available indicator of consumer spending on any major scale. It is useful to divide retail sales statistics into its auto and non-auto components. Auto sales constitute about 20% of retail sales and this have a strong influence on the total. And, since auto sales can be very volatile they can obscure the underlying pattern of consumer spending. With some adjustments the retail sales report is a good guide to the goods component of the personal consumption expenditures statistic which is part of GDP and released with personal income later in the month. Empirical work has shown that significant surprises in Retail Sales are correlated with stock price movements. |