Retail Sales

A high-impact economic indicator that tracks the monthly change in the value of sales at the retail level. Retail sales reports are important to traders because consumer spending accounts for the majority of a country’s economic activity. When retail sales figures come in better than expected traders can expect bullish price action on the country’s currency. In the United States retail sales reports are divided into standard retail sales reports and core retail sales reports, which excludes automobile sales as these big ticket items are regarded as being highly volatile and can conceal the underlying trend.