{"id":5807,"date":"2015-05-14T15:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T21:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.regiontrack.com\/www\/?p=5807"},"modified":"2015-05-14T15:00:43","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T21:00:43","slug":"yes-falling-gasoline-prices-can-easily-sway-overall-retail-activity-05142015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regiontrack.com\/www\/yes-falling-gasoline-prices-can-easily-sway-overall-retail-activity-05142015\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Falling Gasoline Prices Can Easily Sway Overall Retail Activity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The string of weak retail sales reports in the first four months of 2015 are not<\/span> an indication of slowing overall economic activity.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Instead, recent weakness in the retail data\u00c2\u00a0merely reflects the\u00c2\u00a0steep fall\u00c2\u00a0in sales at gasoline stations since November 2014. In our\u00c2\u00a0pic-of-the-week, retail sales minus gasoline station sales continues to show\u00c2\u00a0a very steady uptrend, even in the most recent\u00c2\u00a0data.<\/p>\n

\"potw_1_20150514\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gasoline station sales are off by\u00c2\u00a0about $10 billion per month since late last year, falling from about $46 billion per month\u00c2\u00a0to only about $36 billion per month\u00c2\u00a0currently. This is a more than\u00c2\u00a020% decline in the sector.<\/p>\n

\"potw_3_20150514\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gasoline station sales are a major component of total retail sales and can easily sway overall retail numbers. Gasoline station sales have declined from a roughly\u00c2\u00a011-12% share of total retail sales in the 2011 to 2014 period to only 8.2% as of\u00c2\u00a0the April 2015 retail report.<\/p>\n

\"potw_2_20150514\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are wondering if\u00c2\u00a0gasoline station sales are masking weakness in other retail sectors, the answer is no. Nearly every other major retail sector is currently posting solid year-over-year gains.<\/p>\n

Sign up<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to receive RegionTrack’s PIC OF THE WEEK!
\n[email_link]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The string of weak retail sales reports in the first four months of 2015 are not an indication of slowing overall economic activity.\u00c2\u00a0Instead, recent weakness in the retail data\u00c2\u00a0merely reflects the\u00c2\u00a0steep fall\u00c2\u00a0in sales at gasoline stations since November 2014. In our\u00c2\u00a0pic-of-the-week, retail sales minus gasoline station sales continues to show\u00c2\u00a0a very steady uptrend, even in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,1],"tags":[55,83],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-5807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-graphic","category-pic-of-the-week","category-uncategorized","tag-gasoline-prices","tag-retail","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t