Updated: 17-Jun-25 09:39 ET


Highlights
- Retail sales declined 0.9% month-over-month in May (Briefing.com consensus -0.6%) following a downwardly revised 0.1% decline (from 0.1%) in April.
- Excluding autos, retail sales fell 0.3% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) following a downwardly revised unchanged reading (from 0.1%) in April.
- Motor vehicle and parts dealer sales declined 3.5% month-over-month following a 0.6% decline in April.
- Furniture and home furnishing store sales rose 1.2% month-over-month following a 0.7% increase in April.
- Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealer sales dropped 2.7% month-over-month following a 0.3% increase in April.
- Food and beverage store sales were down 0.7% month-over-month following an unchanged reading in April.
- General merchandise store sales rose 0.1% month-over-month following a 0.1% decline in April.
- Nonstore retailer sales increased 0.9% month-over-month following a 0.4% increase in April.
- This was not a good report in terms of hard economic data. It reflected a more cautious-minded consumer, who, in general, pulled back spending on goods. Clothing and accessories store sales (+0.8%) were a surprising outlier, but otherwise, there was a retrenchment in spending in many discretionary categories, including electronics and appliance store sales (-0.6%) and food services and drinking places (-0.9%). This report will help support arguments that the Fed should be cutting rates soon.
Category | MAY | APR | MAR | FEB | JAN |
Retail Sales | -0.9% | -0.1% | 1.5% | 0.0% | -0.9% |
Excluding Autos | -0.3% | 0.0% | 0.6% | 0.4% | -0.3% |
Durable goods | |||||
Building Materials | -2.7% | 0.3% | 2.0% | -0.2% | -1.8% |
Autos/parts | -3.5% | -0.6% | 5.3% | -1.4% | -3.3% |
Furniture | 1.2% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.6% | -1.4% |
Nondurable goods | |||||
General Merchandise | 0.1% | -0.1% | 0.0% | -0.3% | 0.7% |
Food | -0.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
Gasoline stations | -2.0% | -0.7% | -2.8% | -0.7% | 1.1% |
Clothing | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1.1% | -0.1% | -0.5% |
e*retailing/non-store | 0.9% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 1.4% | -1.0% |