The Producer Price Index fell 2.2% in November, near the forecast of a 2.0% decline. The core rate, which eliminates food and energy, was up 0.1%. Pricing pressures in the earlier stages of production continue to fall at a rapid pace.
Retail sales fell 1.8% in November month-over-month, versus the estimate of a decline of 2.0%, and October was revised down 0.1% to -2.9%. Ex-autos, sales dropped 1.6%, compared to the consensus of a drop of 1.8%.
Preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose from 55.3 in November to 59.1 in December, topping the consensus forecast of 54.5. Inflation expectations continued to ease and gasoline prices declined.
Business inventories for October fell 0.6%, lower than an expected 0.2% decline, and sales plunged 3.5%. Though inventories are declining as businesses cut production, the drop in sales boosted the inventory-to-sales ratio, which measures how many months it would take companies to liquidates goods on hand, from 1.30 to 1.34.
