Weaker than expected U.S. retail sales figures dented market confidence Tuesday after another mass downgrade of the creditworthiness of European countries had little impact.
Figures showing that retail sales in the U.S. rose by 0.4 percent in January, half the anticipated amount. That prompted a reverse in stock markets, which had earlier shown resilience to Moody's decision to downgrade six EU countries and its accompanying warning that top-rated Britain, France and Austria could see their ratings cut too.
Following a downwardly revised flat reading for December, the retail sales figures proved a disappointment in the markets, especially in light of the recent run of strong U.S. economic data, most notably relating to the job market.
Well, dear reader, that 'strong economic data' that's mentioned in the above paragraph is all b.s...and that's why sales are weak. I'm sure the sales data is even worse than the numbers show. This AP story showed up posted over at abcnews.go.com on Tuesday. I stole it from yesterday's King Report...and the link is here.
