Great US Retail Sales Report for May Makes Trump Happy

Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2020 by
Skerdian Meta • 1 min read

The US retail sales report for May was released a while ago. Retail sales turned negative in February, then the decline increased in March and in April we saw some major decline, as the report below shows. Sales were expected to increase in May, as the US economy started reopening and they did, jumping much higher than anticipated. That has given the USD a push higher.

May 2020 US Retail Sales Report:

May advance retail sales +17.7% vs +8.4% expected
Prior was -16.4% (revised to -14.7%)
Ex autos and gas +12.4% vs +5.5% expected
Prior ex autos and gas -16.2% (revised to -14.4%)
Ex autos +12.4% vs +5.1% expected
Control group 11.0% vs +5.2% expected
Prior control group -15.3% (revised to -12.4%)
Sales y/y -6.08% vs –19.9% prior

Big beat on retail sales and the prior numbers were revised higher. The highlighted column in the table below gives you a sense of where the spending is. Restaurants are still struggling but building material & garden centers are on fire along with online (non-store sales).

Even the President is noting it: