Advance retail sales fell 0.4% in April, below the unchanged reading forecast, while March's decline was again unfavorably revised from -1.2% to -1.3%. Ex-autos, sales declined 0.5%, versus a projected reading of a 0.2% increase. March's decline was also unfavorably revised further from -1.0% to -1.2%.
Business inventories fell 1.0% in March, slightly less than the forecast of a 1.1% decline, while February was revised lower from -1.3% to -1.4%. Sales dropped by 1.6%, but the inventory-to-sales ratio came in unchanged from an upwardly revised 1.44 in February.
Led by a 15.4% surge in oil prices (the sharpest jump in more than seven years) the Import Price Index increased 1.6% in April, more than the expected increase of 0.6%. However, nonpetroleum prices decreased for the ninth consecutive month, falling 0.4% in April, led by industrial supplies and materials prices. Import prices gained a downwardly revised 0.2% in March.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 184 points (2.2%) to close at 8,285, the S&P 500 Index fell 24 points (2.7%) to 884, and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 52 points (3.0%) to 1,664. Crude oil fell $0.83 to $58.02 per barrel, and gold increased $2.95 to $926.30 per ounce.
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