U.S. Retail Sales

US retail trade jumped 1.6 percent from a month earlier in March 2019, following a 0.2 percent drop in February and easily beating market expectations of a 0.9 percent advance. That was the biggest increase in retail trade since September 2017 boosted by sales of motor vehicles and a range of other goods. Retail Sales MoM in the United States averaged 0.36 percent from 1992 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 6.70 percent in October of 2001 and a record low of -3.90 percent in November of 2008.

Retail Sales MoM in the United States is expected to be 0.40 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Retail Sales MoM in the United States to stand at -0.20 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the U.S. Retail Sales is projected to trend around 0.40 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.

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Calendar	GMT		Actual	Previous	Consensus	TEForecast
2019-02-14	01:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	-1.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.3%
2019-03-11	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	0.2%	-1.6%	0%	0.3%
2019-04-01	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	-0.2%	0.7%	0.3%	0.2%
2019-04-18	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	1.6%	-0.2%	0.9%	0.6%
2019-05-15	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM		1.6%
2019-06-14	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM
2019-07-16	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM				0.4%

US Retail Sales Post Biggest Gain in 1-1/2 Years

US retail trade jumped 1.6 percent from a month earlier in March 2019, following a 0.2 percent drop in February and easily beating market expectations of a 0.9 percent advance. That was the biggest increase in retail trade since September 2017 boosted by sales of motor vehicles and a range of other goods.

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

Receipts at motor vehicle & parts dealers surged 3.1 percent, the most since September 2017, after a 0.1 percent decline in the previous month; and those at gasoline stations increased 3.5 percent, the same pace as in February, on the back of higher fuel prices. In addition, sales at clothing stores advanced 2 percent, the largest gain since last May, reversing a 1.8 percent drop in February; and those at restaurants and bars were up 0.8 percent, the most since last July, compared to 0.3 percent rise. Sales also rose at: furniture & home furniture stores (1.7 percent vs 0.8 percent); electronics and appliances stores (0.5 percent vs -1.4 percent); building material stores (0.3 percent vs -4.4 percent); food & beverage stores (1 percent vs -1.9 percent); health & personal care stores (0.2 percent vs 0.6 percent); general merchandise stores (0.7 percent vs -0.3 percent); miscellaneous store retailers (1.8 percent vs -1.1 percent); and online and mail-order trade (1.2 percent, the same as in February).

By contrast, receipts at hobby, musical instrument and book stores dropped 0.3 percent, reversing a 0.3 percent advance in February.

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales climbed 1 percent in March after a downwardly revised 0.3 percent decline in February.

Year-on-year, retail trade growth quickened to 3.6 percent from 2.2 percent in the previous month.

US Census Bureau | Joana Ferreira | joana.ferreira@tradingeconomics.com
4/18/2019 12:54:54 PM

News

US Retail Sales Unexpectedly Drop in February
US retail trade fell by 0.2 percent from a month earlier in February 2019, following an upwardly revised 0.7 percent growth in January and missing market expectations of a 0.3 percent gain.
Published on 2019-04-01

US Retail Sales Rebound in January
US retail trade rose by 0.2 percent from a month earlier in January 2019, following an upwardly revised 1.6 percent decline in December and beating market expectations of a flat reading. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales rebounded 1.1 percent in January after a downwardly revised 2.3 percent decrease in December.
Published on 2019-03-11

US Retail Sales Post Biggest Drop in Over 9 Years
US retail trade fell by 1.2 percent from a month earlier in December 2018, following a revised 0.1 percent growth in November and missing market expectations of 0.2 percent gain. It was the steepest decline in retail sales since September 2009.
Published on 2019-02-14

US Retail Sales Rise 0.2% in November
US retail trade rose by 0.2 percent from a month earlier in November 2018, following an upwardly revised 1.1 percent growth in October and matching market expectations. An increase in sales of furniture, electronics and a range of other goods was partially offset by a decline in trade at gasoline stations on the back of cheaper fuel prices.
Published on 2018-12-14

United States Consumer	Last	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Unit
Consumer Confidence	96.90	98.40	111.40	51.70	Index Points	[+]
Retail Sales MoM	1.60	-0.20	6.70	-3.90	percent	[+]
Retail Sales YoY	3.60	2.20	11.20	-11.50	percent	[+]
Retail Sales Ex Autos	1.20	-0.20	2.60	-4.00	percent	[+]
Consumer Spending	13032.30	12953.29	13032.30	1403.69	USD Billion	[+]
Disposable Personal Income	15944.70	15913.40	15948.29	351.54	USD Billion	[+]
Personal Spending	0.10	-0.60	2.80	-2.10	percent	[+]
Personal Income	0.20	-0.10	4.60	-4.70	percent	[+]
Personal Savings	7.50	7.70	17.30	2.20	percent	[+]
Consumer Credit	15.19	17.72	28.64	-18.63	USD Billion	[+]
Private Sector Credit	9709.77	9668.03	9709.77	39.04	USD Billion	[+]
Bank Lending Rate	5.50	5.50	20.50	2.00	percent	[+]
Economic Optimism Index	54.20	55.70	62.90	35.80		[+]
Redbook Index	5.00	4.80	9.30	-5.80	percent	[+]
Chain Store Sales	3232.00	2890.00	15875.00	2890.00	USD Million	[+]
Gasoline Prices	0.66	0.61	1.07	0.24	USD/Liter	[+]
Households Debt To GDP	76.40	76.60	98.60	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		[+]

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 2019.