U.S Consumer Price Index Unchanged, Advance Retail Sales Increase by 0.1% - 15.5.2012

The inflation measure, the CPI excluding the more volatile energy and food products was unchanged in April as the Department of Labor reported today. The monthly CPI indicator excluding food and energy remained at 0.2 per cent as it was expected and as it was reported for March. The yearly CPI excluding food and energy remained the same too like the previous reported figure at 2.3 per cent. However, the yearly CPI including energy and food fell by 0.5 per cent from the March figure of 2.7 to the April 2.3 per cent, affected by the declining prices on oil. This cooling in inflation will support the plan of the central bank to keep low interest rates.

U.S Advance Retail Sales rose by 0.1 per cent in April as it was projected by median forecast of Bloomberg survey after a revised 0.7 per cent increase in March. The 0.1 increase in retail sales is the lowest since December 2011. Retails Sales less autos was also increased by 0.1 per cent falling from 0.8 per cent in March. This decrease in the increasing rate of retail sales is due to a very little change in wage growth and a still concerning housing market according to economists.

Lastly, Empire Manufacturing in New York for May expanded more than forecast to 17.09 compared to the projection at 9.00 as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported today. In April the manufacturing index was at 6.6 and increased in May due to increase in auto sales and also due to foreign demand according to the report.