Retail Sales Fall Short of Expectations in May
2 hr 2 min ago
Stores have been doing less business as U.S. consumers’ budgets strain to keep up with inflation and high interest rates.
Retail sales rose 0.1% in May from April, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.1
That was less than the 0.2% increase that forecasters had expected according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. On top of that, April’s sales figures were downwardly revised to a 0.2% decline rather than staying flat as the bureau initially reported in May.
It could be the beginning of a reversal in the strong consumer spending that has buoyed the economy during the pandemic recovery.
“Overall, the May retail sales data are consistent with a consumer that is only gradually losing its swagger,” wrote Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan and Shannon Seery Grein.
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