October 2020 US retail sales report highlights

retail sales control group
  • Prior was +1.9% (revised to +1.6%)
  • Retail sales control group +0.1% vs. +0.5% estimate
  • Prior control group +1.4% (revised to +0.9%)
  • Retail sales ex auto +0.2% vs. +0.6% estimate
  • Retail sales ex auto and gas +0.2% vs. 0.6% estimate

All the main headlines are soft and revisions are lower. This is a poor report. The market is forgiving though because it comes after many months of surprising gains; one bad month doesn't make a trend.

That said, there is some modest yen buying and commodity currency weakness, but some of that is mixed up with oil softness as OPEC's JMMC meets.