Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Quick Notes for the Day - July 14

Retail Sales Beat Expectations - The Commerce Department released a report this morning that showed June retail sales rose 0.6% in June for the highest reading in five months. Strong auto and gasoline sales offset weakness in many sectors. Most economists had predicted a rise of 0.5% for the month.

PPI Rises for June 1.8% - The Labor Department released a report this morning that showed the June Producer Prices Index (PPI) rose 1.8%. This marked the largest jump in the PPI since November 2007. Excluding food and energy prices, the PPI rose 0.5% in June. Most economists had expected a rise of 1.2% in the PPI.

Goldman Sachs Posts Profit - Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday that its second quarter net income rose to $3.44 billion, or $4.93 a share, compared to $2.05 billion, or $4.58 a share a year ago. Most analysts had expected the company to earn $3.54 a share in the quarter.

Inventories Drop in May - The Commerce Department reported this morning that business inventories fell 1.0% in May. Included in the report, retail inventories fell 1.6% in May highlighted by the largest drop in autos in almost four years. Most economists are predicting that the decline in inventories will moderate during the second half of 2009 which will be a positive to GDP growth. Looking historically, inventories are down 8.0% year over year, and business sales are down 17.8% year over year.

OPEC Overproduced in June - OPEC released a report that showed that its members had increased oil production in June for a third straight month. June production rose to 28.441 million barrels a day from 28.402 million barrels a month ago. Production from the 11 members bound by quotas, not including Iraq, rose to 26.027 million barrels a day. Only 72% of the quotas put in place by OPEC are being followed.

Fed Continues Purchases of Treasurys - The Federal Reserve bought $7.5 billion in Treasurys maturing between 2011 and 2012 on Tuesday. Dealers offered $14.73 billion to be purchased. The operation is the first of two this week from the Fed.

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