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FR: Consumer Mfgd Goods Consumption
| Actual | Previous | |
| Month over Month | 0.2% | 1.6% |
| Year over Year | 2.2% | 2.1% |
Highlights
Consumers slowed their spending on manufactured products in April, which increased 0.2 percent compared to the previous month which saw them spend 1.7 percent more. From April of last year, spending was 2.2 percent higher.
Spending on durable goods slowed by 0.5 percent in April which saw outlays for transportation equipment down 0.4 percent and household durables 0.8 percent lower. On a yearly comparison, spending rose 2.9 percent overall, helped by a 1.3 percent gain for textiles and 0.7 percent for other goods.
Purchases of energy were 2.9 percent lower on both a monthly and year-on-year comparison, as spending on refined products was 0.6 percent lower than in March and down 6.7 percent from April of last year.
Total consumer spending is down 0.5 percent in April compared to March and 0.4 percent lower year-on-year. Figures released today showed first quarter GDP contracting 0.1 percent, with consumer spending down. Today's results show that the second quarter not off to a good start in terms of consumer spending and could be a drag on GDP for the second quarter.
Definition
Consumption of manufactured goods by consumers is an indicator of consumer spending for household durable goods such as autos and furniture. The data are released separately as part of the report on total goods spending.
Description
This indicator is a measure of retail sales and is unique to France. It measures consumer spending for household durable goods such as autos and furniture. The data are seasonally and workday adjusted. These adjustments eliminate the fluctuations that are solely due to changes in the number of working days. The data appear to be particularly sensitive to the number of worked Saturdays. With consumer spending a large part of the economy, market players continually monitor spending patterns. Retail sales are a measure of consumer well-being.
The pattern in consumer spending is often the foremost influence on stock and bond markets. For stocks, strong economic growth translates to healthy corporate profits and higher stock prices. For bonds, the focus is whether economic growth goes overboard and leads to inflation. Ideally, the economy walks that fine line between strong growth and excessive (inflationary) growth.
Retail sales not only give you a sense of the big picture, but also the trends among different types of retailers. Perhaps auto sales are especially strong or apparel sales are showing exceptional weakness. These trends from the retail sales data can help you spot specific investment opportunities, without having to wait for a company's quarterly or annual report.