friday's trading

Well the alarm bells are ringing louder for me now. Last night's retail sales data is very worrying. It shows that American consumers, who account for two thirds of GDP growth are reigning in their spending, not that many have a great deal of buying power left under a mountain of debt. Retail sales excluding cars fell 0.6% in July.

I was also concerned by Wal Marts same store sales results which fell 1.2% in the last quarter; a bit concerning considering they are the largest discount retailer in the states.

To me it is only a matter of time before the US market falls again.