e-EDGE is now available as an RSS feed. [Click here to subscribe to it.]February was not pretty in much of the retail world. Retail and food services sales fell by -0.6% last month, following a revised increase of 0.4% in January. Only four of thirteen retail sector reported higher sales in February. This group included health & personal care stores (with sales up by 0.5% over the month); general merchandise stores and sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores (both with sales up by 0.4%); and apparel & accessories stores, up by 0.2%. Nine sectors reported over-the-month sales declines, including: motor vehicle & parts dealers (down by -1.9%), gasoline stations (-1.0%), building material & garden equipment & supplies dealers (-0.7%), furniture & home furnishings stores (-0.5%), and miscellaneous store retailers (also -0.5%). Within the general merchandise sector, sales of traditional department stores were down by -0.2%, while sales of other general merchandisers (including warehouse clubs & supercenters) increased by 0.7%.
Year-to-date comparisons are not seasonally adjusted and looked somewhat better than the January-February match-up. Total retail & food services sales have increased by 5.8% compared to January-February 2007, and were up by 7.4% excluding automotive. Ten of thirteen retail sectors reported higher sales over the year. Gasoline stations were the growth leaders, with sales up by +25.0% over the year due to higher prices. Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores occupied the number two spot (with sales up by +8.2%), and nonstore retailers (mostly online shopping and catalog mail order houses) were right behind (with sales up by +8.1%). Sales of three retail sectors lagged during January-February: building material & garden equipment & supplies dealers (down by -2.3% over the year), furniture & home furnishings stores (-2.0%), and motor vehicle & parts dealers (reporting a -0.4% decline). Again, the general merchandise sector was split, with traditional department store sales down by -2.9% so far this year, while the remainder of the sector was up by a nice round 10.0%. (Nancy D. Sidhu)
PR: http://www.census.gov/svsd/www/marts_current.pdf
The Los Angeles MSA (LA-Riverside-OC) Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by +0.2% in February over the previous month, following a +0.7% increase in January. The index was +3.1% higher than a year ago. Last month, consumers’ pocket books were hit mostly with higher gas utility and grocery prices. Local CPIs are not seasonally adjusted. Gas utility prices increased once again over the month, this time by +8.8%, and by +8.6% over the year to February 2007. Though grocery prices declined by -0.5% between January and February, still they were up by +4.0% over the year. Gasoline prices declined by a moderate -1.5% over the month, but remained high, up by +20.4% from February 2007. The apparel index shot up by 4.9% over the month in February. Medical care costs were higher as well, rising by +0.6% in February, and were +3.6% higher over a year ago.
The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) was unchanged in February following an increase of +0.4% in January (seasonally adjusted). The CPI was up by +4.0% from February 2007, remaining well above the Fed’s “comfort zone”. Food prices moderated a bit in February, rising by +0.4% over the month following a +0.7% increase in January. They were +4.6% higher over the year to February 2007. Families with children were being hit with rising prices of not only dairy but cereals as well. Cereals and bakery products posted the highest month-over-month increase among grocery items, up by +1.8% (largest since January 1975) and by +6.6% over the year. Dairy product prices (including milk, cheese, ice cream, etc.) were higher once again in February, up by +0.8% following a +0.2% increase in January, and were up by +13.3% over the year to February 2007.
Energy prices eased by -0.5% during February, following a +0.7% increase in January, but were still way up by +18.9% from February 2007. Though gasoline prices declined by -2.0% over the month in February, they rose by +32.7% compared with a year ago (and will be much higher in March).
Excluding food and energy prices, the U.S. core CPI was unchanged in February, following a +0.3% increase the previous month. The U.S. core index has risen by +2.3% over the past year. In comparison, the Los Angeles MSA core CPI rose by +0.3% in February. Over the year, the Los Angeles MSA core index increased by +2.3%. (Candice Flor Hynek)
US PR: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
LA PR: http://www.bls.gov/ro9/cpilosa.htm
The February container numbers from Southern California’s two ports continued to be a mixed bag. The total number of containers handled by the two ports during the month was down by 4.0% to 1.14 million TEUs. At Long Beach the number of import containers handled dropped by 7.6% while Los Angeles reported a 9.8% decline. The total for the month was down by 9.0% to 580,676 TEUs. Export container activity continued to be robust, with Long Beach rising by 36.1% and Los Angeles up by 29.6% over the year to February. Total export containers moved were up by 32.7% to 301,402 TEUs. As usual, the total number of empty containers handled during February was down by 10.1% to 260,347 TEUs.
The February container numbers were impacted by shutdowns in Asia for New Year’s celebrations. We wait to see what March brings. (Jack Kyser)
Port of Long Beach PR: http://www.polb.com/economics/stats/latest_teus.asp
Port of Los Angeles PR: http://portoflosangeles.org/factsfigures_Monthly.htm
The January values for international trade at California’s three customs districts weren’t too bad. At the Los Angeles District, export values rose by 6.0% while imports eased down by 0.1%. Total two-way trade values at the district were up by 1.6% to $27.9 billion. The San Francisco District saw export values climb by 7.2% while import values increased by 2.7%. Total two-way trade at San Francisco was up by 4.4% over the year to January to $9.2 billion. The San Diego District saw export values decline by 0.5%, while imports rose by 4.6%. Total two-way trade values were up by 2.9% to $4.2 billion. (Jack Kyser)
The national export figures released on Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed a change in the top exporter. For the first time since the U.S. Principal Parties of Interest (USPPI) series has been in circulation (January 2006) California did NOT lead the nation in total exports. Instead, Texas ($11.688 billion) claimed that honor exporting $3.5 million more than California ($11.684 billion). California exports continued to grow, as year-over-year comparisons revealed an increase of +5.0%. Texas’ total exports increased by +13.5% during that same time. This reflects the national trend as total U.S. exports increased by +15.8% since January 2007. Texas was able to overtake California as top exporter by exporting significantly more manufactured goods. California ($8.2 billion) exported -7.8% fewer manufactured goods compared to a year earlier, while Texas ($9.7 billion) saw a +3.0% increase.
Using the BEA’s Origin of Movement (OM) series, Texas again led the nation in January with $15.2 billion in total exports, a year-over-year increase of +14.5%. During that same period, California saw its total exports increase by 6.0% to $11.0 billion. The difference again came in the export of manufactured goods as Texas exported $4.6 billion more than California. California’s export of manufactured goods increased by +2.4% year-over-year to $7.8 billion, while Texas exploded over that same period with a +15.7% increase to $12.5 billion. Nationally, U.S. exports of manufactured goods decreased by -2.6%, while total exports decreased by -2.4%.
State export data by commodity are not available by USSPI. However, commodity data is available for OM state export figures. Both California and Texas exports benefited from high world prices for agricultural and energy-related products. Dairy and oil products reported the biggest year-over-year growth for California OM exports (increasing by +208.4% and +182.5% respectively), while aircraft had the largest negative impact (with a -25.3% decrease). Cereals, oil products, and optical & medical equipment contributed the most to the year-over-year growth in Texas OM exports (rising by +95.5%, +66.6%, and +42.3% respectively).
The USPPI measure allocates export trade value according to the location of companies having the greatest economic interest in an international transaction, while OM measures trade values at the point where international shipments begin, often at consolidation points near border crossings or other ports of exit. With its long border with Mexico, Texas is home to numerous international border crossings and warehousing facilities, as well as major rail links between the United States and Mexico. Industry observers believe that many shipments originating in other states (including California) are credited with Texas exports to Mexico under the OM state export series. (April Lisonbee & Eduardo J. Martinez)
US PPI in millions - Total Exports
| Jan08 | Dec07 | Jan07 | M/M Change | Y/Y Change |
|
| U.S. Total | 99,355.50 | 101,787.10 | 85,782.00 | -2.4% | 15.8% |
| Texas | 11,687.70 | 11,653.50 | 10,300.30 | 0.3% | 13.5% |
| California | 11,684.20 | 12,747.80 | 11,130.60 | -8.3% | 5.0% |
US PPI in millions - Manufactured Commodities
| Jan08 | Dec07 | Jan07 | M/M Change | Y/Y Change | |
| U.S. Total | 75,895.6 | 77,931.4 | 67,471.2 | -2.6% | 12.5% |
| Texas | 9,732.8 | 9,451.9 | 8,505.7 | 3.0% | 14.4% |
| California | 8,221.0 | 8,919.8 | 8,057.1 | -7.8% | 2.0% |
OM Series in millions - Total Exports
| Jan08 | Dec07 | Jan07 | M/M Change | Y/Y Change | |
| U.S. Total | 99,355.50 | 85,781.90 | 101,787.10 | 15.8% | -2.4% |
| Texas | 15,190.40 | 14,403.40 | 13,268.90 | 5.5% | 14.5% |
| California | 11,048.20 | 12,021.60 | 10,420.60 | -8.1% | 6.0% |
OM Series in millions - Manufactured Commodities
| Jan08 | Dec07 | Jan07 | M/M Change | Y/Y Change | |
| U.S. Total | 99,355.5 | 85,781.9 | 101,787.1 | 15.8% | -2.4% |
| Texas | 12,544.4 | 11,684.5 | 10,845.9 | 7.4% | 15.7% |
| California | 7,869.9 | 8,502.4 | 7,685.3 | -7.4% | 2.4% |
State export (OM):
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/exh2s.txt
State export (USSPI): http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/state/zip/index.html
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