Economy

Advance Monthly Retail Sales for May Gain Solidly, April Revised Higher

April Retail Sales Revised Higher From -0.2% to +0.3%

Group of friends sitting outdoors with shopping bags; several people holding smartphones and tablets. (Photo: AdobeStock/ OneInchPunch/PPD)

The U.S. Census Bureau reported advance monthly retail sales were $519.0 billion, a gain of 0.5% (±0.5%) from April and 3.2% (±0.7%) above May 2018. Figures are adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes.

Indicator	Prior	Revised	Consensus Forecast	Forecast Range	Actual
Retail Sales – M/M ∆	-0.2%	0.3%	0.7%	0.4% to 0.9%	0.5%
Retail Sales less autos – M/M ∆	0.1%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0% to 0.6%	0.5%
Less Autos & Gas – M/M ∆	-0.2%	0.3%	0.4%	0.1% to 0.5%	0.5%
Control Group – M/M ∆	0.0%	0.4%	0.4%	0.1% to 0.5%	0.5%

Total sales for the quarter from March 2019 through May 2019 were up 3.6% (±0.5%) from the same period a year ago. Retail sales from March 2019 to April 2019 were revised from down 0.2% (±0.5%) to up 0.3% (±0.1%).

Retail trade sales were up 0.5% (±0.5%) from April 2019, and 3.1% (±0.7%) above last year.

Nonstore retailers were up 11.4% (±1.4%) from May 2018, and 1.4% from last month. Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, and book stores were down 4.2% (±2.5%) from last year.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers were estimated at $115.39 billion, a gain of 0.7% from last month and 2.5% from $106.227 billion in May 2018.

As People’s Pundit Daily (PPD) previously reported, U.S. light vehicle sales rose 6.2% to a seasonally-adjusted 17.40 million units in May, beating the consensus forecast and reversing the 6.1% decline in April.

Revised unadjusted estimates and adjusted estimates are scheduled for release on June 25, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. EDT.

READ FULL STORY

Subscribe Sign In

PPD Business Staff

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.