US RETAIL SALES: WHEN THE INFLATING OF SALES PASSES OVER INTO FRAUD BUT IT NO LONGER MATTERS.

Marx observed that all crises are preceded by fraud. It seems that the venerable US Department of Commerce is not immune from this. In the end of course fraudulent official data is without consequence when reality imposes itself as it did this week when major retailers reported weaker than expected sales and income and the markets took fright.

Home Depot reported its sales which rose by under 2% in the U.S. This would have reduced the annual aggregate rise in revenue in the Table to 5.7%. It says a lot about the state of the housing market as well.