U.S. Retail Sales 1992-2018 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast | News

US retail trade rose by 0.6 percent month-over-month in March 2018, recovering from a 0.1 percent drop in February and beating market expectations of a 0.4 percent gain. It was the first month of increase since November, mainly boosted by purchases of motor vehicles. Considering the first quarter of the year, retail sales went up 0.2 percent. Retail Sales MoM in the United States averaged 0.36 percent from 1992 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 6.70 percent in October of 2001 and a record low of -3.70 percent in October of 2008.

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US Retail Trade Rebound Stronger than Expected

US retail trade rose by 0.6 percent month-over-month in March 2018, recovering from a 0.1 percent drop in February and beating market expectations of a 0.4 percent gain. It was the first month of increase since November, mainly boosted by purchases of motor vehicles. Considering the first quarter of the year, retail sales went up 0.2 percent.

8 of 13 major retail categories showed month-over-month increases.

Auto sales jumped 2 percent in March, the largest increase since last September, after declining 1.3 percent in February. Additional upward pressure came from: furniture & home furniture stores (0.7 percent vs 0.4 percent); electronics & appliance stores (0.5 percent vs -1 percent); food & beverage stores (0.2 percent, the same pace as in February); health & personal care stores (1.4 percent vs -1.1 percent); general merchandise stores (0.3 percent vs -0.4 percent); nonstore retailers (0.8 percent vs 0.9 percent); and food services & drinking places (0.4 percent, the same pace as in February).

Meanwhile, sales at gardening and building material stores fell 0.6 percent (vs 2 percent in February) and those at gasoline stations declined 0.3 percent (vs 0.1 percent in January). Sales also dropped at: sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores (-1.8 percent vs 3.3 percent); clothing & clothing accessories stores (-0.8 percent vs 0.2 percent); and miscellaneous store retailers (-0.3 percent vs -2.1 percent).

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales rose 0.4 percent last month after being unchanged in February.

Year-on-year, retail trade grew 4.5 percent in March, compared with a 4 percent rise in February.

US Census Bureau | Joana Ferreira | joana.ferreira@tradingeconomics.com
4/16/2018 12:47:03 PM

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Published on 2017-12-14

Calendar	GMT		Actual	Previous	Consensus	TEForecast
2018-02-14	01:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	-0.3%	0%	0.2%	0.3%
2018-03-14	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	-0.1%	-0.1%	0.3%	0.4%
2018-04-16	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	0.6%	-0.1%	0.4%	0.4%
2018-05-15	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM		0.6%		0.2%
2018-06-14	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM				0.31%
2018-07-16	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM				0.32%

United States Consumer	Last	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Unit
Consumer Confidence	97.80	101.40	111.40	51.70	Index Points	[+]
Retail Sales MoM	0.60	-0.10	6.70	-3.70	percent	[+]
Retail Sales YoY	4.50	4.10	11.20	-11.50	percent	[+]
Retail Sales Ex Autos	0.20	0.20	2.70	-3.80	percent	[+]
Consumer Spending	12035.23	11916.58	12035.23	1320.40	USD Billion	[+]
Disposable Personal Income	14794.74	14730.76	14794.74	351.90	USD Billion	[+]
Personal Spending	0.20	0.20	2.80	-2.00	percent	[+]
Personal Income	0.40	0.40	4.60	-5.20	percent	[+]
Personal Savings	3.40	3.20	17.00	1.90	percent	[+]
Consumer Credit	10.60	15.60	118.60	-114.30	USD Billion	[+]
Private Sector Credit	9199.21	9145.36	9463.65	39.04	USD Billion	[+]
Bank Lending Rate	4.58	4.50	20.50	2.00	percent	[+]
Economic Optimism Index	52.60	55.60	62.90	35.80		[+]
Redbook Index	3.00	2.90	7.60	-5.80	percent	[+]
Chain Store Sales	3594.00	3246.00	15875.00	3146.00	USD Million	[+]
Gasoline Prices	0.70	0.67	0.99	0.32	USD/Liter	[+]
Households Debt To Gdp	78.50	78.40	98.00	23.80	percent of GDP	[+]
Consumer Confidence Current Conditions	113.20	112.50	121.10	57.50		[+]
Consumer Confidence Economic Expectations	80.20	83.90	108.60	44.20		[+]
Consumer Confidence Price Trends	2.70	2.60	10.40	0.40		[+]

U.S. Retail Sales

Retail sales report in the US provides aggregated measure of sales of retail goods and services over a period of a month. There are thirteen major types of retailers: Motor vehicle & parts dealers (around 20 percent of total sales), Food & beverage stores (13%), General merchandise stores (12.5%), Food services & drinking places (11%), Gasoline stations (10%), Nonstore retailers (9.2%), Building material & garden dealers (6%), Health & personal care stores (6%), Clothing & clothing accessories stores (5%), Miscellaneous store retailers (2.3%), Furniture stores (2%), Electronics & appliance stores (2%) and Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores (1.7%). This page provides - U.S. December Retail Sales Increased More Than Forecast - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. U.S. Retail Sales - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated on April of 2018.