Retail Sales Growth Choppy So Far This Year
ThinkstockFor the third consecutive week since the beginning of the year, the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index of retail sales is down. For the week ending January 19th, sales fell 1.5% from the previous week. For the year to date, however, the…
For the third consecutive week since the beginning of the year, the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index of retail sales is down. For the week ending January 19th, sales fell 1.5% from the previous week.
For the year to date, however, the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index indicates that store sales are up 3.2%, significantly higher than the Redbook reported index which indicates much slower growth of 1.8% year-to-date.
With just three weeks of data in hand it’s a bit risky to make sweeping generalizations about the direction of 2013 retail sales, but we could be seeing the first effects of the elimination of the 2% cut in payroll taxes on some 160 million Americans and the rise in the top tax rate on those who earn more than $450,000 a year.
Reuters cites one analyst who claims that the tax hikes could subtract a full percent from U.S. GDP growth in 2013 and another who believes the payroll tax hike alone will cut growth by 0.7% this year. Cutting federal spending, as many in Congress seem determined to push through, will not improve GDP growth; in fact, quite the reverse.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.