TIMBER PRODUCTS January 2017 Newsletter Volume: 01/23/2017

RETAIL SALES RISE 0.6%

All of this December gain can be attributed to increased car buying and gasoline purchases; in fact, retail sales were flat with those two categories removed. Analysts surveyed by MarketWatch had projected a 0.8% December advance. Census Bureau data shows that online sales rose 13.2% in 2016, while department store sales fell 8.4%.^1,2

CONSUMERS MAINTAIN OPTIMISM AS 2017 BEGINS

The University of Michigan’s preliminary January consumer sentiment index was little changed from the final December edition – just a tenth of a point lower at 98.1. In January 2016, the index was at 92.0. The current conditions component of the index reached 112.5, its highest mark since 2004.³

PRODUCER PRICES CLIMB AGAIN

After heading north 0.4% in November, the Producer Price Index advanced another 0.3% in December, perhaps hinting that an extended period of minimal wholesale inflation is now history. The December increase left both the headline and core PPI up 1.6% year-over-year.¹

Citations.

1 - investing.com/economic-calendar/ [1/13/17]

2 - marketwatch.com/story/retail-sales-climb-06-in-december-2017-01-13/ [1/13/17]

3 - sca.isr.umich.edu/ [1/13/17]

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."  

Thomas Jefferson