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Though consumers are being hammered by price inflation at gas stations and grocery stores, they may be surprised by what they find at electronics, clothing, furniture and appliance stores. Swamped by excess inventory, many major retailers are offering big-time discounts on a variety of consumer goods. One such retailer is Target, which has twice cut its profitability outlook in recent weeks. In its June 7 warning, Target projected its second-quarter operating margin would be roughly 2%, well less than half the 5.3% the company projected in May. At the same time, Target said it was “planning several actions in the...

US jet-fuel inventories have fallen to a seventeen-year low. More troubling is that jet-fuel inventories for the US East Coast (PADD 1) have fallen to a 25-year low. Tight fuel supplies ahead of a traditionally busy travel season may suggest ticket prices could jump. U.S. inventories of jet-fuel are at the lowest level for this time of the year in 17 years. For the East coast (PADD 1), they are the lowest seasonal level since 1997. Airline programs suggest a big rise in flights coming in the next 5 months. Jet is going to be very tight #OOTT — Javier...

After the API shocked markets by reporting a massive 9.3-million-barrel increase in U.S. inventories yesterday, the EIA added insult to injury, saying inventories instead went up by 14.4 million barrels in the week to October 28, reaching 482.6 million barrels. The silver lining is that the total is within the upper limit for the time of year, according to the EIA data. We suspect the markets won’t find much in the way of this silver. Last week, the authority reported a meager 600,000-barrel decline in crude oil stocks, which despite its meagre size, managed to sway the market, pushing up...

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories declined by 14.5 million barrels during the week ending on September 2nd, according to the Energy Information Administration’s latest report. The American Petroleum Institute (API) report on domestic inventories anticipated a 12 million barrel draw in crude supplies, against expert predictions that inventories would increase by 905,000 barrels.

Crude oil futures rose 3.5 percent in mid-afternoon trading on Wednesday, following official data earlier in the day showing a 3.4-million drop in crude inventories and a fall in crude output to 8.8 million barrels per day, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2014. June deliveries of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) were up US$1.57, or 3.5 percent, settling at US$46.23 per barrel on the New York exchange. This jump is higher than any closing price the commodity has seen since November of last year.

  When we last looked at order of heavy, or Class 8, truck one quarter ago - that all-important, forward looking barometer of domestic trade - we said that even with 2015 in the history books, and as we start 2016 where the base effect was supposed to make the annual comps far more palatable, the latest, January data, as abysmal: "the drop continues to be one of Great Recession proportions, manifesting in yet another massive 48% collapse in truck orders in the first month of the year as demand appears to have gone in a state of deep hibernation."Fast...

Oil climbed after U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly dropped from the highest level in more than eight decades.

The long awaited inventory correction is finally arriving. Moments ago the BEA reported preliminary Q3 GDP, which at 1.49%, missed both sellside consensus expectations of 1.6%, and tumbled from the 3.9% reported in the second quarter as the quarterly volatility continues at an unprecedented pace. This was the second lowest quarterly GDP print since Q1 2014 excluding the "double seasonal adjustment" meant to cover up the collapse in Q1 2015 GDP.

Against expectations of a further rise in inventory build of 0.7%, wholesale inventories rose only 0.3% in June (the same pace as in May) missing by the most since February 2013. With GDP now basically an exercise in inventory expansion and contraction (Q2 inventory estimate amounte to 40% of GDP), this 'miss' offers little hope for the initial Q2 rebound to hold its exuberance. In addition, wholesale sales also missed (up only 0.2% against expectations of a 0.7% rise) with growth slowing for the 3rd month in a row. Inventories miss significantly...

Inventories at U.S. businesses rose 0.4% in July...Business sales rose 0.7%...The inventory-to-sales ratio declined to 1.27 in July from 1.28 in the prior month.

In order to see a real economic recovery looming, we need to see demand rising and inventories getting depleted. Today, we got the opposite. According to two releases by the Census Bureau, retail sales fell in May, largely due to dropping demand in the auto market, while at the same time, inventories rose sharply.First, the news on retail sales: The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $387.1 billion, a decrease of 0.2 percent (±0.5%)*from...

Inventories The Department of Energy reported that in the week ending December 24th, 2010, U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 1.3 million barrels, gasoline inventories decreased by 2.3 million barrels, distillate inventories increased by 0.2 million barrels, and total petroleum inventories decreased by 9.1 million barrels. After a brief pause last week, the total petroleum surplus resumed its downward trend. Stocks are now 56.2, or 5.5%, above the 5-year average, down from 6% last week. Back during the middle of September, the surplus was almost double what it is now at 111 million, or 10.7%. Crude oil inventories fell seasonally,...

Business Inventories Rise By More Than Expected Vincent Fernando, CFA Sep. 14, 2010, 10:02 AM Business inventories for July rose 1% vs. 0.7% expected. Developing... --- Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for July, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,090.0 billion, up 0.7 percent (±0.2%) from June 2010, and up 9.2 percent (±0.5%) from July 2009. Inventories. Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,375.7 billion,...

CAMARILLO, Calif. - Gasoline prices have surged to a record nationwide average of $3.07 per gallon, nearly 20 cents higher than two weeks earlier, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday. The previous record was $3.03 per gallon on Aug. 11, 2006. But despite inventory fears that have sent prices higher, there are signs that the rising prices at the pump may be peaking. Just two weeks ago, the U.S. average for a gallon of regular gas was $2.87, but the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide on Friday showed an increase of about 19.5 cents to $3.07. That's up...

After last week's strong durable goods and Midwest manufacturing reports, the ISM confirmed a brighter outlook for factories — and economic growth overall. "The latest few reports suggest that the industrial side of the economy is reaccelerating," said Manufacturers Alliance Chief Economist Daniel Meckstroth. The ISM's new orders index rose 3.4 points to 60.6, also a 2005 high. The production subindex shot up 5.6 points to 61.2, the highest since September. Manufacturers have worked down inventories and are pumping up production to meet continued strong consumer demand.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices slid more than $1 to trade well below $53 a barrel on Friday, extending the previous day's heavy losses as funds took profits from a 12 percent gain in the past month. A big stock build in the United States encouraged selling, although losses were limited by a weaker dollar and longer-term worries that energy demand growth this year would outpace supply. U.S. light crude fell $1 cents or 1.9 percent to $52.56 a barrel in early European trade, having earlier touched $52.50, the lowest price since March 2. Oil tumbled $1.23 on Thursday, the...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Tuesday as U.S. crude stocks looked set to rise for the fourth week in a row, but held above $53 on growing signals that OPEC was unlikely to boost output to tackle soaring energy bills. U.S. light crude traded down 57 cents at $53.32 a barrel as dealers snapped up profits after Monday's $53.89 close, the highest in four months. London's Brent crude fell 67 cents to $51.42 a barrel. Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was the latest to say the cartel had little room for maneuver ahead of a March 16 meeting...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. industrial output grew strongly last month while producer prices fell at the sharpest rate in 1-1/2 years amid tumbling energy prices, according to reports suggesting healthy, noninflationary growth. U.S. factories, mines and utilities boosted production by a more-than-expected 0.8 percent in December, leading to a 4.1 percent gain for all of 2004, the best annual showing in four years, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday. Separately, the Labor Department said producer prices dropped 0.7 percent last month, a sharper-than-expected decline and the biggest since April 2003. Prices were also well contained when excluding volatile food...

U.S. Nov business inventories rose 0.3 pct Friday January 16, 8:29 am ET WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Commerce Department seasonally adjusted data on U.S. business inventories and sales. PCT CHANGES: INVENTORIES Nov Oct (Prev) Nov'03/02 Total Business 0.3 0.4 0.4 2.1 Manufacturers -0.2 0.1 UNCH -1.0 Retailers 0.7 0.7 0.6 5.1 Autos/parts 1.2 1.5 1.5 8.3 Wholesalers 0.5 0.5 0.5 2.2 SALES Nov Oct (Prev) Nov'03/02 Total Business 0.5 0.7 0.7 5.4 Manufacturers UNCH 0.7 0.7 4.1 Retailers 1.2 -0.2 -0.3 7.0 Autos/parts 3.0 N/A -1.4 8.7 Wholesalers 0.3 2.0 2.0 5.5 BLNS OF DLRS: INVENTORIES Nov Oct (Prev)...

U.S. Nov wholesale inventories rose 0.5 pct Thursday January 8, 10:00 am ET WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Department report of wholesale inventories and sales, seasonally adjusted. (Percent Changes) Nov Oct (Prev) Nov03/02 Inventories Total 0.5 0.5 0.5 2.2 Durable Goods 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.5 Automotive -0.5 2.5 2.7 -1.0 Prof'l equip 0.5 -0.1 -0.1 3.9 Computer equip. unch 1.4 1.1 1.0 Machinery 0.4 -0.2 -0.4 -1.9 Nondurable Goods 0.8 0.6 0.8 4.9 Petroleum 1.4 -0.4 -0.9 14.7 . Nov Oct (Prev) Nov03/02 Sales Total 0.3 2.0 2.0 5.5 Durable Goods 0.6 1.6 1.8 6.0 Automotive 2.0 1.1...