RETAIL SALES RISE 0.4% OVER THE MONTH, MISSING EXPECTATIONS AGAIN

Key Points:

  • Retail sales, a measure of purchases at stores, restaurants and online, rose 0.4% in April from March after last month was revised to a 0.7% decline.
  • Consensus among economists was a 0.7% increase.
  • Excluding autos, retail sales also rose by 0.4% over the month.
  • Retail sales were 1.6% above April 2022 and total sales for the February 2023 through March 2023 period were up 3.1% from the same period a year ago.
  • The Right Facts will continue to monitor retail sales.