Economy Watch: Sales, Gas, And Mortgages

Retail Sales Down
The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported its chain-store sales index for the week ending on June 11, 2011 fell 0.8% from the week before, but was up 2.4% from the same period last year. The ICSC noted business was noticeably weaker at discounters during the week.

Shoppertrak Retail Sales
For the week ended June 11, 2011, ShopperTrak's National Retail Sales Estimate was $90.838 billion, down 4.6% from last week's $95.191 billion, but up 3.3% from the same week last year. This week, the week before Father's Day (June 19), sales are expected to rise.

Gas Prices Drop
The Energy Department announced that for week ending June 13, 2011, the average price of US gasoline fell to $3.713 a gallon, down from $3.781 per gallon week earlier. The second quarter of the year is typically a seasonal low point in global oil consumption, a pattern reinforced this year by the unusually wide scope of refinery outages and the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. If anything, the usual third-quarter rebound in oil consumption is likely to be greater than normal this year.

Diesel prices fell to an average $3.94 per gallon, down from $3.95 last week, the fifth consecutive weekly drop.

Mortgage Rates Hit 2011 Low
Bankrate.com reported that the average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.65%, down from last week's 4.69%, according to its weekly national survey ending June 8, 2011. It also reported that the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate was 3.79%, down from 3.88% last week.