Original title: the growth rate of retail sales in the United States in June was significantly lower than that in the previous month, and the epidemic continued to impact the retail industry in the United States.
On Thursday, at 20:30 Beijing time in New York, the United States released closely watched retail sales data for June, which performed slightly better than expected but below the previous value. the overall data still showed that the retail industry had been hard hit by the epidemic, with spot gold prices up slightly by $2 in the short term after the release of the data.
The retail sales figures were accompanied by data on initial jobless claims that week, which resulted in slightly more jobless claims than expected, which had a relatively limited impact on the market.
Picture: spot gold price 5 minutes chart
Us retail sales fell sharply in June compared with the previous month
Specific data show that the monthly rate of retail sales in the United States in June actually announced 7.5%, expected 5.0%, with a previous value of 17.7%, while the monthly rate of core retail sales in the United States in June actually released 7.30%, expected 5.0%, with a previous value of 12.4%. The monthly rate of US retail sales fell sharply in June from the previous month, but remained high.
Analysts pointed out that it has been more than a month since the United States restarted its economy, but the economic situation and epidemic prevention and control have not improved significantly. Before the outbreak of the epidemic, many bankrupt enterprises had already faced a tight capital chain and a sharp decline in sales due to poor management. The epidemic only accelerated the process of bankruptcy.
Online retail sales have soared.
Compared with the gloom of brick-and-mortar retail, sales of US e-commerce platforms reached the level of the shopping season at the end of last year.
According to data released by the US Department of Commerce, the value of US e-commerce retail sales in the first quarter of 2020 was a seasonally adjusted $160.3 billion, up 2.4 per cent from a month earlier and 14.8 per cent from a year earlier. Total US retail sales in the first quarter were $1.3635 trillion, down 1.3 per cent from the previous quarter and up 2.1 per cent from a year earlier. E-commerce retail sales accounted for 11.8% of the total retail sales in the first quarter.
Walmart Inc said recently that due to the increase in daily necessities and distribution, the sales of the same store increased by 10% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, and the amount of e-commerce sales increased by 74%. The operating loss of the e-commerce sector has also been brought under control. Walmart Inc's operating income and profit in the first quarter exceeded market expectations.
Walmart Inc will overtake eBay to become the second largest e-commerce retailer in the United States for the first time, after Amazon.Com Inc, the report said. The company expects Walmart Inc's ecommerce sales to jump more than 35 per cent this year to 5.8 per cent of the US e-commerce market.
In the first quarter of this year, sales in the same store increased by 10.8% year-on-year, while e-commerce contributed 9.9% to the growth rate, according to data released by Target Corp (Target), another major American department store, on June 20. Affected by this, the company's operating income and earnings per share exceeded market expectations in the last quarter.
Affected by the epidemic, the number of enterprise bankruptcy is increasing.
As the largest economy in the world, the United States has the highest economic level in the world today, but it has also become the country most affected by the epidemic this year. Because of the large-scale spread of the epidemic in the United States, most industries in the United States have been affected. Among them, the retail industry in the United States is the most negatively affected, especially after the second quarter, the number of bankrupt enterprises in the retail industry in the United States is increasing.
J.C.Penney, the department store giant, said it would close 152 stores and cut 1000 jobs in an attempt to emerge from bankruptcy protection. J.C.Penney filed for bankruptcy protection in May, hoping to get out of bankruptcy protection as a whole by restructuring debt and cutting branches. PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein, also announced plans to close some stores in the United States and lay off employees the day before.
Just recently, a giant in the American retail industry went bankrupt, which is a big loss for the United States. It is reported that on July 8, local time, Brooks Brothers, a menswear retailer with a history of more than 200 years, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware court.
As an old giant brand, the bankruptcy of Brooks Brothers is not only a loss for the United States, but also a "warning" for the American retail industry. The economic environment of the United States is not stable this year, and the retail industry has been hit hard by the epidemic. If the United States does not bring the epidemic under control as soon as possible, I am afraid there will be more serious consequences.
Some analysts said that at the end of the third quarter, you will see a wave of bankruptcy, if we can not control the epidemic, September and October will be real disasters.
According to statistics, the number of commercial failures in the United States this year has reached 3604, an increase of 26 percent over the same period last year. Of these, the new increase in June was 609, an increase of 43% over the same period last year. In such a general environment, there is also a phenomenon in the United States, that is, the rate of increase in corporate production is accelerating. At present, the number of bankrupt companies in the United States is rising, and the most important thing is that the growth rate is expanding. If this continues, the United States will have a real disaster after September.
Generally speaking, there is a big sales season in the United States after September, and a large number of American enterprises will rely on this period to boost their performance and promote sales. However, if the epidemic in the United States is not effectively controlled after September, many enterprises will lose an important "turnaround opportunity."
Performance of other US economic data
Retail sales figures for June were accompanied by data on initial jobless claims for the week. Specific data show that the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States in the week ended July 11 actually announced 1.3 million, expected to be 1.25 million, with a previous value of 1.314 million. In the United States, the number of renewed claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended July 4 actually announced 17.338 million, with an expected number of 17.5 million, with a previous value of 18.062 million.
The analysis pointed out that the United States recorded another million first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, and the number of unemployed people has exceeded 50 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.
In addition, there is the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index data, specific data show that the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index in July actually released 24.10, expected 20, the previous value of 27.5.
At 20:35 Beijing time, the spot gold price was 1807.31 US dollars per ounce.