Retail Sales Miss Across The Board; Grow At Slowest Pace Of 2017

Earlier today, when looking at BofA’s internal credit and debit card data, we warned to expect a miss in retail sales:

And, sure enough, the actual spending data once again did not disappoint when moments ago the Census reported April retail sales which, well, did disappoint across the board:

Retail Sales up 0.4%, missing expectations of +0.6%, up from an upward revised 0.1%

Retail sales up 4.5% Y/Y, down from 5.2% in April

Retail sales less autos rose 0.3% in April, est. 0.5%, unchanged from last month’s revised 0.3%

Retail sales ex-auto dealers, building materials and gasoline stations rose 0.2% in April

Retail sales ‘control group’ rose 0.2% m/m in April

Visually:

While increases were posted across most sectors, they were uninspiring with the exception of online sales. aka “nonstore retailers” which rose 1.4% in April, and are up a whopping 11.9% Y/Y

And now, bring on the downward revisions to Q2 GDP.

Source link