United States Retail Sales Mom

Last Release

Feb 28, 2023

Actual

-0.4

Units In

3.2

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Apr 14, 2023

Time to Release

19 Days 15 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
18.2 May 2020	-14.7 Apr 2020	0.4 %	1992-2023	U.S. Census Bureau

Retail sales report in the US provides aggregated measure of sales of retail goods and services over a period of a month. There are thirteen major types of retailers: Motor vehicle & parts dealers (around 20 percent of total sales), Food & beverage stores (13%), General merchandise stores (12.5%), Food services & drinking places (11%), Gasoline stations (10%), Nonstore retailers (9.2%), Building material & garden dealers (6%), Health & personal care stores (6%), Clothing & clothing accessories stores (5%), Miscellaneous store retailers (2.3%), Furniture stores (2%), Electronics & appliance stores (2%) and Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores (1.7%).

Latest Updates

Retail sales in the US were down 0.4% month-over-month in February of 2023, compared to market forecasts of a 0.3% fall, and following an upwardly revised 3.2% surge in January which was the biggest gain since March of 2021. The biggest decreases were seen in sales at furniture stores (-2.5%), food services and drinking places (-2.2%), miscellaneous retailers (-1.8%), motor vehicles and part dealers (-1.8%), clothing stores (-0.8%), gasoline stations (-0.6%). In contrast, increases were seen in nonstore retailers (1.6%), health (0.9%), food and beverages stores (0.5%), general merchandise stores (0.5%) and electronics and appliances (0.3%). Excluding autos, sales were down 0.1% and excluding gas and autos, sales were flat. On the other hand, the so-called core retail sales which exclude automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services and relate more with the consumer spending component of GDP, increased 0.5%. Retail sales aren’t adjusted for inflation.