Another firm set of retail sales figures with a beat across the board. Meanwhile, revisions to the prior month’s report were slightly mixed, however, US retail sales nonetheless remain robust. Most notably, the retail sales control group figure rose 1.6% vs expectations for a 0.9% increase, which is important as this is used in several GDP trackers. Therefore, we could begin to see US GDP forecasts slightly upgraded. Once again, this will add to the case for Fed hawks to perhaps urge the committee to speed up QE tapering or if not speed up tapering, possibly to provide a hawkish pivot sooner rather than later.
