|
The Commerce Department reported that retail sales in the U.S. rose for the seventh straight month, up 0.4 percent in April following an upwardly revised gain of 2.1 percent in March.
An early Easter holiday is believed to account for a shift of some purchases from April to March which was, after the most recent revision, the biggest gain since last August.
Despite all the hoopla about a new all-time high in U.S. dollar terms, the 2009-2010 version of the recurring gold bubble is still quite modest by historical measure, a point that should be clear to see in the graphic below that was in dire need of updating.
Surely, the current move up would be much more impressive than the last two if the metal were priced in euros. It now seems to be only a matter of time before the important €1,000 an ounce milestone is reached – with spot gold now trading at €977 an ounce, it looks to be just a matter of just days, if not hours.
The Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales rose 1.6 percent in March, the biggest advance in four months, and data for prior months was revised sharply higher.
The March gain exceeded consensus estimates for a 1.2 percent increase and this follows upwardly revised gains of 0.5 percent in both January and February. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales were up 7.6 percent, the biggest annual increase since early-2006, however, the sales volume from 12 months ago makes for an easy comparison as March 2009 marked the low point for the recession.
It’s funny how headlines for yesterday’s consumer confidence report left out a few critical words (appended above) about the exact nature of the rebound. The March reading for the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index made back about half of the February plunge that had taken this important gauge of the American mood back to the level of last April, just after the worst of the financial market crisis. There’s more in this AP report.
Since so much of the U.S. economy is based on “confidence” – more specifically, both the ability and desire of Americans to spend freely when maybe they really shouldn’t – it’s hard to imagine how the pre-2008 mode of U.S. economic growth can be restored after what happened in 2008, yet, that seems to be what everyone wants.
The Las Vegas Sun reports that the $8.5 billion white elephant otherwise known as MGM Mirage/Dubai World’s CityCenter project will soon be the proud owner of a nearly half billion dollar “mechanics’ lien” as, apparently, some bills are going unpaid.
MGM Mirage said it would dispute the claimed amount and also signaled it has counterclaims over construction defects at the Harmon Hotel part of the project, where construction has been suspended. When work resumes, it’s scheduled to be completed at 28 floors, rather than the planned 49 floors.
“CityCenter believes that its actual obligation to the general contractor is substantially less than the amount claimed and that it is also entitled to significant offsets against the claimed amount. CityCenter intends to pursue all of its rights and remedies against the general contractor, including arbitration,” MGM Mirage said in a regulatory filing.
“While CityCenter’s investigation into the general contractor’s potential liability regarding the Harmon Hotel is continuing, and there can be no assurance at this point as to the ultimate outcome of any action CityCenter may undertake, CityCenter believes that the amount of its claim against the general contractor may exceed the amount of CityCenter’s estimated remaining liability to the general contractor,” MGM Mirage said in its filing.
There’s a bit more detail at the LV Sun and in this report from Reuters – it seems this is not the first time that paying the bills has been a problem for CityCenter managers.
Jake at EconPicData looks at last week’s consumer credit report (a data release from the Federal Reserve that, for some unknown reason, comes at 3PM EST on Fridays) and wonders if the American consumer is once again in a spending mood.
Total consumer credit expanded by $5.0 billion in January, the first increase in 11 months and only the third gain in almost a year-and-half in what has otherwise been a decades-long credit and spending binge.
By Tim Iacono, Since 2005
![[Most Recent USD from www.kitco.com]](http://www.weblinks247.com/indexes/idx24_usd_en_2.gif)
Recent Comments