Updated: 17-Jun-25 09:39 ET

May Retail Sales

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.

Key Factors

• 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.

Big Picture

• 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%