U.S. Retail Sales 1992-2017 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast | News

Retail sales in the United States decreased by 0.3 percent month-over-month in May of 2017, following a 0.4 percent rise in April and missing market expectations of a 0.1 percent gain. The decline was driven by lower sales of motor vehicles, electronics & appliance stores, gasoline stations, sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores and general merchandise stores. On a year-on-year basis, retail sales rose 3.8 percent. Retail Sales MoM in the United States averaged 0.35 percent from 1992 until 2017, 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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Calendar	GMT		Actual	Previous	Consensus	Forecast
2017-04-14	12:30 PM	Mar	-0.2%	-0.3%	-0.1%	-0.1%
2017-05-12	12:30 PM	Apr	0.4%	0.1%	0.6%	0.4%
2017-06-14	12:30 PM	May	-0.3%	0.4%	0.1%	0.2%
2017-07-14	12:30 PM	Jun		-0.3%		0.31%
2017-08-15	12:30 PM	Jul				0.27%
2017-09-15	12:30 PM	Aug				0.28%

US Retail Sales Fall The Most In 16 Months

Retail sales in the United States decreased by 0.3 percent month-over-month in May of 2017, following a 0.4 percent rise in April and missing market expectations of a 0.1 percent gain. It was the biggest decline since January of 2016, driven by lower sales of motor vehicles, electronics & appliance stores, gasoline stations, sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores and general merchandise stores. On a year-on-year basis, retail sales rose 3.8 percent.

7 out of 13 major retail categories declined in May while 4 increased and 2 were unchanged.

Motor vehicle sales fell by 0.2 percent in May after rising by 0.5 percent in the previous month.

Additional decreases were recorded at: electronics & appliance stores (-2.8 percent from 2.2 percent); gasoline stations (-2.4 percent from 0 percent); sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores (-0.6 percent from 0.4 percent); general merchandise stores (-0.3 percent from 0.7 percent); miscellaneous store retailers (-1.3 percent from 0.7 percent) and food services & drinking places (-0.1 percent from -0.2 percent).

In contrast, retail sales rose at: clothing stores (0.3 percent from 0.2 percent); furniture and home furniture stores (0.4 percent from -0.3 percent); food and beverages stores (0.1 percent from 0.2 percent) and nonstore retailers (0.8 percent from 0.9 percent).

Meanwhile, sales were flat at health and personal care stores (from 0.8 percent in April) and building material stores (from 0.6 percent).

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales were unchanged after rising by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in April.

Compared to April last year retail sales were up 3.8 percent.

US Census Bureau | Yekaterina Guchshina | yekaterina@tradingeconomics.com
6/14/2017 12:49:45 PM

Recent Releases

US Retail Sales Rise Less Than Expected In April
Retail sales in the United States increased by 0.4 percent month-over-month in April 2017, following an upwardly revised 0.1 percent rise in March but missing market expectations of a 0.6 percent gain. The increase was mainly driven by a rebound in sales of motor vehicles and higher receipts at service stations, building material stores and electronics and appliance stores.
Published on 2017-05-12

US Retails Sales Drop 0.2% in March
Retail sales in the United States decreased by 0.2 percent month-over-month in March 2017 after February figures were revised to a 0.3 percent drop which previously was reported as a 0.1 percent gain. The primary drivers of the decline were lower spending at auto dealerships and gas stations. It was the first consecutive two-month drop in more than two years.
Published on 2017-04-14

US Retail Sales Rise The Least In 6 Months
Retail sales in the United States increased by 0.1 percent month-over-month in February 2017, following an upwardly revised 0.6 percent rise in January and in line with market expectations. It was the smallest increase since August, due to lower purchases at motor vehicle and parts dealers and electronics and appliance stores. In contrast, sales rose for building material and garden equipment and nonstore retailers.
Published on 2017-03-15

US Retail Sales Rise More Than Expected In January
Retail sales in the United States increased by 0.4 percent month-over-month in January 2017, following an upwardly revised 1 percent rise in December and above market expectations of a 0.1 percent gain. Higher sales at gasoline stations, restaurants and electronics and appliances stores offset a sharp drop in motor vehicle purchases.
Published on 2017-02-15

United States Consumer	Last	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Unit
Consumer Confidence	94.50	97.10	111.40	51.70		[+]
Retail Sales MoM	-0.30	0.40	6.70	-3.70	percent	[+]
Retail Sales YoY	3.80	4.60	11.20	-11.50	percent	[+]
Retail Sales Ex Autos	-0.30	0.40	2.70	-3.80	percent	[+]
Consumer Spending	11688.50	11669.80	11688.50	1320.40	USD Billion	[+]
Disposable Personal Income	14432.50	14428.50	14432.50	351.90	USD Billion	[+]
Personal Spending	0.40	0.30	2.80	-2.00	percent	[+]
Personal Income	0.40	0.20	4.60	-5.20	percent	[+]
Personal Savings	5.30	5.30	17.00	1.90	percent	[+]
Consumer Credit	8.20	19.50	118.60	-17.80	USD Billion	[+]
Private Sector Credit	9220.64	9177.64	9220.64	39.04	USD Billion	[+]
Bank Lending Rate	4.00	4.00	20.50	2.00	percent	[+]
Economic Optimism Index	51.30	51.30	62.90	35.80		[+]
Redbook Index	2.20	2.80	7.60	-5.80	percent	[+]
Gasoline Prices	0.63	0.64	0.99	0.32	USD/Liter	[+]
Households Debt To Gdp	79.50	79.40	95.50	23.40	percent of GDP	[+]
Chain Store Sales	4254.00	4223.00	15875.00	3129.00	USD Million	[+]

U.S. Retail Sales Notes

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 June of 2017.