Wall Street Greek: Financial News: Retail Sales, Jobless Claims, Business Inventories

Visit the front page of Wall Street Greek to see our current coverage of economic reports and financial markets.

(Tickers: DIA, SPY, QQQQ, NYX, DOG, SDS, QLD, XLF, IWM, TWM, IWD, SDK, ARST, CHDX, CIDM, CPY, DLM, FNSR, GLBC, HRLY, HOKU, LULU, MDZ, NSM, NOOF, OCLS, RGEN, SCHS, UTSI)

Financial News

Retail Sales Report

The Commerce Department reported this morning that retail sales increased 0.5% in May. The growth compared against a prior month result of -0.2% (revised). Bloomberg's consensus of economists had forecast sales would increase 0.6% in May, and the month's sales were still 9.6% short of last May's level.

Excluding autos, May sales also increased by 0.5%, versus the consensus view for a 0.3% rise. The ex-auto figure for April was also revised to -0.2%. Motor vehicle and parts dealers sales dropped 19.6% against the prior year level.

Bright spots were found in motor vehicles, gasoline stations, building material and garden equipment, food and beverage stores and health and personal care stores.

Initial Jobless Claims

Weekly initial jobless claims were reported at 601K for last week, down 24K from the 625K revised count from the prior week. The four-week moving average also dropped by 10,500, to 621,750. The insured unemployment rate remained high and increased by 59K, to a record level of 6.8 million or 4.6%.

RBC Cash Index

RBC reports on consumer attitudes and spending at 9:00 AM. May's RBC Cash Index improved to 43, from 38.3 in April and 1.6 in February.

Business Inventories

Following a favorable Wholesale Trade report that showed inventories contracted faster than sales on the wholesale level, we get the Business Inventories Report for April this morning. At 10:00 AM, economists expect April's Business Inventories will be reported down 0.8%, after dropping by 1.0% in March. Remember, it's a good thing when sellers are able to get a hold inventory during a period of economic contraction. From the floor, they can better manage growth and avoid discounting except for the purpose of drawing traffic. Business Sales fell 1.6% in March, so businesses did not yet have a grip on inventory, and the inventory-to-sales ratio stuck at a high level of 1.44 (high compared to recent trend and low). We have given you the Wholesalers numbers already, and Manufacturers inventories declined 1.0% in April.

Natural Gas Storage

At 10:30, the EIA will report on Natural Gas inventory levels. In the week ending on May 29th, natural gas in storage increased by 124 Bcf. This put gas stocks at a level 546 Bcf greater than the same point in the prior year and 423 Bcf above the five-year average. All of this is indicative of global economic contraction.

Fed Events

At 1:00 PM, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart will address the National Association of Securities Professionals. The Federal Reserve will report on its Balance Sheet at 4:30 PM.

Corporate EPS Reports

The day's light EPS schedule includes news from ArcSight (Nasdaq: ARST), Chindex Int'l (Nasdaq: CHDX), Cinedigm Digital (Nasdaq: CIDM), CPI Corp. (NYSE: CPY), Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM), Finisar (Nasdaq: FNSR), Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC), Herley Industries (Nasdaq: HRLY), Hoku Scientific (Nasdaq: HOKU), Lululemon (Nasdaq: LULU), MDS Inc. (NYSE: MDZ), National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Occulus Innovative (Nasdaq: OCLS), Repligen (Nasdaq: RGEN), School Specialty (Nasdaq: SCHS) and UTStarcom (Nasdaq: UTSI).