United States Retail Sales Mom

Last Release

Aug 31, 2023

Actual

0.6

Units In

0.5

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Oct 17, 2023

Time to Release

1 Months 1 Days 10 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 advanced 0.6% mom in August 2023, higher than a downwardly revised 0.5% rise in July and beating forecasts of a 0.2% advance. The data continues to point to robust consumer spending despite high prices and borrowing costs. Sales at gasoline stations recorded the biggest increase (5.2%), as gasoline prices soared about 10%. Retail sales are not adjusted for inflation. Other increases were also seen in sales at clothing stores (0.9%), electronics & appliance (0.7%), health & personal care (0.5%), food & beverage (0.4%), food services & drinking places (0.3%), general merchandise stores (0.3%), motor vehicle & parts dealers (0.3%) and building material & garden equipment (0.1%). On the other hand, sales were flat at nonstore retailers and fell at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & book stores (-1.6%), miscellaneous store retailers (-1.3%) and furniture stores (-1%). Excluding autos, gas, building materials and food services, retail sales edged up 0.1%.