EmailRetail sales turned positive again in June as sales increased 0.1% following a 0.1% decline in May. The Briefing.com consensus expected retail sales to fall 0.2%.
The growth in total sales was a little surprising.
Motor vehicle and parts sales increased 0.8% in June. At the same time, however, total motor vehicle units sales fell from 11.80 million SAAR in May to 11.45 million SAAR in June. Normally, a decline in unit sales correlates with a similar decline in motor vehicle and parts dealer spending. When a divergence occurs, it is often solved by a revision to the retail sales report.
In this case, the 0.1% increase in total sales may be revised back into negative territory next month since the motor vehicle expenditure numbers may be lowered so they are more in-line with the unit sales level.
Outside of the motor vehicle sector, spending was flat as expected in June after increasing 0.2% in May. Gasoline station expenditures fell 1.3% as prices declined last month. Core sales -- which excluded the highly volatile auto dealers, building materials and supply dealers, and gasoline stations -- increased a modest 0.1%.
Spending at apparel and department stores increased 0.7% and 1.4% respectively, in-line with the surprisingly strong same-store sales reports released last week.
