Economic Indicator 3: Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers: All Items | Definition: “The Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) program produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services” (United States Department Of Labor, para. 1, 2013). Measured by: U. S. Dept. of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics Frequency: Monthly Type: Lagging (Blose, 2010). | Liliana Mejia Rodriguez |
Economic Indicator 4: Retail Sales: Total (Excluding Food Services) | Definition: Monthly retail sales from a broad quantity of goods, inventories, and inventories-to-sales, including e-commerce sales (United States Census Bureau, 2013). Measured by: U. S. Dept. of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics Frequency: Monthly, Seasonally AdjustedType: Coincident (Ataman et al., 2010) | Liliana Mejia Rodriguez |
Economic Indicators: Retail Sales Report
Filed Under » 401K, Beginning Investor, Economic Indicator 401K, Beginning Investor, Economic Indicator
By Ryan Barnes
Release Date: | On or around the 13th of the month |
Release Time: | 8:30am Eastern Standard Time |
Coverage: | Previous month\'s data |
Released By: | Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Commerce |
Latest Release: | http://www.census.gov/svsd/www/advtable.html |
Background
Retail Sales is very closely watched by both economists and investors. This indicator tracks the dollar value of merchandise sold within the retail trade by taking a sampling of companies engaged in the business of selling end products to consumers. Both fixed point-of-sale businesses and non-store retailers (such as mail catalogs and vending machines) are used in the data sample. Companies of all sizes are used in the survey, from Wal-Mart to independent, small-town businesses. (For related reading, see Using Consumer Spending As A Market Indicator.)
The data released will cover the prior month's sales, making it a timely indicator of not only the performance of this...