Latest news with #retailSales
Reuters
16 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
UK shoppers slow spending after April bounce, surveys show
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - British consumer spending lost momentum in May after a bounce the month before, as households' confidence in their personal finances and capacity to spend fell, surveys of retailers and consumers showed on Tuesday. The British Retail Consortium said spending in shops rose by just 1% last month, the smallest rise in six months and down from a 7% jump in April, which was the highest year-on-year increase since the COVID-19 pandemic. "While the sunshine continued, the pace of retail sales growth didn't in May. Early seasonal purchases were likely a factor, as was a dampening of some spending appetite as households reflected upon the recent combination of essential bill rises," said Linda Ellett, UK head of consumer, retail & leisure at accountants KPMG who sponsor the BRC data. Official data last month showed British retail sales jumped by much more than expected in April, partly due to sunnier than normal weather boosting fashion and food sales for barbecues and picnics. However, consumers were also hit by a 6% increase in a regulated price cap on household energy tariffs in April as well as other increases in bills, weighing on their scope to continue spending. Separate figures from Barclays on Tuesday also showed softer growth in consumer spending in May. In its report, Barclays said that consumer spending - which covers a wider range of goods and services than retail sales - rose by 1.0% in May, slowing from April's 4.5% growth. Its measure of households' confidence declined by three percentage points to 67%, and nearly half of consumers said they were planning to cut back on discretionary spending. Concerns about interest rates also rose. The Bank of England is widely expected to hold interest rates at 4.25% next week as inflation pressures linger. Barclays spending data was based on debit and credit card spending between April 26 and May 23, while the consumer sentiment data was based on a survey of 2,000 people conducted from May 23-27. The BRC data covered sales made between May 4 and May 31. ($1 = 0.7375 pounds)
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Prediction: Caterpillar's Stock Becomes a Buy When This Key Number Turns Around
The heavy machinery maker's retail sales to its end users appear to be in an uptrend. Dealer inventory is lower than expected, indicating that sales growth is likely to follow. This key metric below will guide the way to increased profitability for Caterpillar. 10 stocks we like better than Caterpillar › Nobody said investing in equities was easy, and that observation certainly holds when examining the investment proposition at Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) right now. There is a robust case for buying shares of the heavy machinery maker today, but there's one key thing investors will want to see before buying the stock. Despite a 10% year-over-year decrease in sales in the first quarter and a whopping 27% decline in operating profit, there's still a robust case for buying Caterpillar. It's based on three interconnected factors. The company's retail sales data was better than expected in the first quarter and indicates an upturn is coming. Its dealers' inventory position in the first quarter suggests a favorable setup for Caterpillar sales for the rest of 2025. Management estimates for earnings and cash flow imply the stock is a good value for a company in the trough year of its earnings cycle. Before supporting these points in detail, it's worth noting that Caterpillar generates the overwhelming majority of its sales through independent dealers to end users. The dealers manage their inventory of equipment, and the sales data in the chart below reflects their sales to end users. During the first-quarter earnings call in late April, outgoing CEO Jim Umpleby noted, "Machine sales to users were stronger than we expected in the first quarter, resulting in flat machine dealer inventory, versus our expectation for growth in dealer inventory during the quarter." Caterpillar's retail sales to end users in the construction and energy and transportation segments were in positive growth territory in the first quarter, with only a 10% decline in resource industries (mining and aggregates) pulling down total machine sales (which include construction and resource industries sales) into negative territory. The better-than-expected end user sales (remember, they represent dealers' sales) led to dealers only increasing inventory by $100 million in the first quarter. By way of comparison, dealers increased inventory by $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Given current sales patterns, "dealers are ordering to replenish" according to CEO Joe Creed, giving credence to management's forecast for flat sales in 2025. Overall, management's full-year guidance, excluding the impact of tariffs, is for flat sales, an adjusted operating profit margin in the top half of its cyclical range (which is approximately 16% to 20%), and free cash flow (FCF) toward the top half of the $5 billion to $10 billion range. For reference, Wall Street analysts have penciled in $8.4 billion in FCF for 2025, a figure that would put Caterpillar stock at 19.6 times FCF in 2025 -- a good valuation for a cyclical company in a trough year. That's the buy case, and it's pretty compelling. That being said, there are a couple of considerations to keep in mind. First, there's the great unknown of the tariff landscape. Management's commentary on the matter includes changing guidance from "top half" of the ranges discussed above to "within," assuming the tariffs in place at the end of April. Since then, there has been a de-escalation, giving investors reason to feel more positive. The second consideration is more problematic and relates to "price realization." This refers to the impact of pricing on sales and operating profit, independent of the effect on sales volumes. Positive price realization implies Caterpillar was able to achieve better pricing on machinery, and can also reflect relatively better sales of higher-priced machinery or in more lucrative geographies. Negative price realization suggests that Caterpillar may be offering discounts or incentives in response to competition. The change in operating profit is almost entirely attributable to changes in sales volume (Caterpillar's sales volume, not dealers' sales, as outlined above) and price realization. As the chart below demonstrates, positive price realization was able to offset declining sales volumes until the second quarter of 2024, after which both trends turned downward in the third quarter. Negative price realization is likely to continue in the second quarter as it comes up against a difficult comparison with the second quarter of 2024. However, suppose Caterpillar's sales are set to improve in the second half, in line with the positive trend in user sales and dealers' inventory positions. In that case, it's reasonable to expect some improvement in price realization in the third quarter, and possibly in the second quarter as well. It's a key metric to watch, indicating a strengthening of market conditions and Caterpillar's ability to grow earnings and meet its full-year targets. Before you buy stock in Caterpillar, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Caterpillar wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Prediction: Caterpillar's Stock Becomes a Buy When This Key Number Turns Around was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Zawya
26-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Canadian dollar hits 7-month high after upbeat retail sales data
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar strengthened to a seven-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as the greenback posted broad-based declines and domestic retail sales data supported bets that the Bank of Canada would remain on the sidelines. The loonie was trading 1% higher at 1.3712 per U.S. dollar, or 72.93 U.S. cents, its strongest intraday level since October 10. It was the fifth straight day of gains for the currency, the longest daily winning streak since June. For the week, the currency was up 1.8%. Canadian retail sales grew by 0.8% in March from February, more than analysts had forecast, while preliminary data showed an April increase of 0.5%. The combination of strong domestic data and reduced demand for the American currency "put a flame under the Canadian dollar today," said Erik Bregar, director, FX & precious metals risk management at Silver Gold Bull. The move began "snowballing" after USD-CAD triggered stop-loss orders below the May 6 low at 1.3748. The U.S. dollar tumbled against a basket of major currencies and the price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, gained 0.6% to $61.58 a barrel. On Tuesday, hotter-than-expected Canadian core-inflation data spurred investors to bet that the BoC would leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.75% at a policy decision on June 4, after previously expecting the central bank to resume its easing campaign. The Canadian 10-year yield was down 1.5 basis points at 3.360%, tracking a decline in U.S. Treasury yields. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose hefty tariffs on smartphone giant Apple and goods from the European Union, raising concerns about slowing economic growth.
Washington Post
25-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
What's open and closed on Memorial Day?
In what had long been celebrated every May 30 to honor America's fallen soldiers, Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, observed on the last Monday in May. Businesses increasingly have chosen to stay open , leading to what is now one of the biggest retail sales and travel weekends of the year.
Reuters
23-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Canadian dollar hits 7-month high after upbeat retail sales data
TORONTO, May 23 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened to a seven-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as the greenback posted broad-based declines and domestic retail sales data supported bets that the Bank of Canada would remain on the sidelines. The loonie was trading 1% higher at 1.3712 per U.S. dollar, or 72.93 U.S. cents, its strongest intraday level since October 10. It was the fifth straight day of gains for the currency, the longest daily winning streak since June. For the week, the currency was up 1.8%. Canadian retail sales grew by 0.8% in March from February, more than analysts had forecast, while preliminary data showed an April increase of 0.5%. The combination of strong domestic data and reduced demand for the American currency "put a flame under the Canadian dollar today," said Erik Bregar, director, FX & precious metals risk management at Silver Gold Bull. The move began "snowballing" after USD-CAD triggered stop-loss orders below the May 6 low at 1.3748. The U.S. dollar (.DXY), opens new tab tumbled against a basket of major currencies and the price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, gained 0.6% to $61.58 a barrel. On Tuesday, hotter-than-expected Canadian core-inflation data spurred investors to bet that the BoC would leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.75% at a policy decision on June 4, after previously expecting the central bank to resume its easing campaign. The Canadian 10-year yield was down 1.5 basis points at 3.360%, tracking a decline in U.S. Treasury yields. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose hefty tariffs on smartphone giant Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and goods from the European Union, raising concerns about slowing economic growth.
