U.S. Retail Sales 1992-2018 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast | News

US retail trade fell unexpectedly by 0.1 percent month-over-month in February 2018, following a downwardly revised 0.1 drop in January and missing market expectations of a 0.3 percent gain. It was the third consecutive month of decline in retail trade, mainly due to lower sales at motor vehicle & parts dealers and gasoline stations. Retail Sales MoM in the United States averaged 0.36 percent from 1992 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 6.70 percent in October of 2001 and a record low of -3.70 percent in October of 2008.

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US Retail Sales Fall for 3rd Straight Month on Autos, Fuel

US retail trade fell unexpectedly by 0.1 percent month-over-month in February 2018, following a downwardly revised 0.1 drop in January and missing market expectations of a 0.3 percent gain.

7 of 13 major retail categories showed month-over-month decreases: motor vehicle & parts dealers (-0.9 percent, the same as in January); gasoline stations (-1.2 percent vs 1.9 percent); furniture & home furniture stores (-0.8 percent vs -0.3 percent); health & personal care stores (-0.4 percent vs -0.2 percent); electronics & appliance stores (-0.1 percent vs 1.1 percent); food & beverage stores (-0.1 percent vs -0.2 percent); and general merchandise stores (-0.4 percent vs 0.4 percent).

Meanwhile, sales at gardening and building material stores surged 1.9 percent, recovering from a 1.7 percent decline in January. Additional upward pressure came from: sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores (2.2 percent vs -1.5 percent); clothing & clothing accessories stores (0.4 percent vs 0.9 percent); miscellaneous store retailers (0.1 percent vs 3.5 percent); nonstore retailers (1 percent vs -0.9 percent); and food services & drinking places (0.2 percent vs 0.1 percent).

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales edged up 0.1 percent last month after being unchanged in January.

Year-on-year, retail trade grew 4 percent in February, compared with a 3.9 percent rise in January.

US Census Bureau | Joana Ferreira |
3/14/2018 1:21:04 PM

Recent Releases

US Retail Sales Post Biggest Drop in 11 Months
US retail trade fell unexpectedly by 0.3 percent month-over-month in January 2018, after showing no growth in December and below market expectations of a 0.2 percent gain. It was the largest decline in retail trade since February last year.
Published on 2018-02-14

US Retail Sales Rise 0.4% in December
US retail trade increased 0.4 percent month-over-month in December 2017, following an upwardly revised 0.9 percent rise in November and matching market expectations.
Published on 2018-01-12

US Retail Sales Rise More than Expected
Retail sales in the United States increased 0.8 percent month-over-month in November of 2017, following an upwardly revised 0.5 percent rise in October and beating market expectations of 0.3 percent. November was the month of the holiday shopping season, with sales rising for most categories except autos and at general merchandise stores.
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Calendar	GMT		Actual	Previous	Consensus	TEForecast
2018-01-12	01:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	0.4%	0.9%	0.4%	0.3%
2018-02-14	01:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	-0.3%	0%	0.2%	0.3%
2018-03-14	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM	-0.1%	-0.1%	0.3%	0.4%
2018-04-16	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM		-0.1%		0.4%
2018-05-15	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM				0.75%
2018-06-14	12:30 PM	Retail Sales MoM				0.83%

United States Consumer	Last	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Unit
Consumer Confidence	102.00	99.70	111.40	51.70	Index Points	[+]
Retail Sales MoM	-0.10	-0.10	6.70	-3.70	percent	[+]
Retail Sales YoY	4.00	3.90	11.20	-11.50	percent	[+]
Retail Sales Ex Autos	0.20	0.10	2.70	-3.80	percent	[+]
Consumer Spending	12035.23	11916.58	12035.23	1320.40	USD Billion	[+]
Disposable Personal Income	14730.76	14589.00	14730.76	351.90	USD Billion	[+]
Personal Spending	0.20	0.20	2.80	-2.00	percent	[+]
Personal Income	0.40	0.40	4.60	-5.20	percent	[+]
Personal Savings	3.40	3.20	17.00	1.90	percent	[+]
Consumer Credit	13.91	19.21	118.60	-114.30	USD Billion	[+]
Private Sector Credit	9145.36	9119.50	9463.65	39.04	USD Billion	[+]
Bank Lending Rate	4.50	4.50	20.50	2.00	percent	[+]
Economic Optimism Index	55.60	56.70	62.90	35.80		[+]
Redbook Index	3.60	3.20	7.60	-5.80	percent	[+]
Chain Store Sales	3260.00	8795.00	15875.00	3146.00	USD Million	[+]
Gasoline Prices	0.67	0.68	0.99	0.32	USD/Liter	[+]
Households Debt To Gdp	78.50	78.40	98.00	23.80	percent of GDP	[+]
Consumer Confidence Current Conditions	113.20	112.50	121.10	57.50		[+]
Consumer Confidence Economic Expectations	80.20	83.90	108.60	44.20		[+]
Consumer Confidence Price Trends	2.70	2.60	10.40	0.40		[+]

U.S. Retail Sales

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%). This page provides - U.S. December Retail Sales Increased More Than Forecast - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. U.S. Retail Sales - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated on March of 2018.