CERF Blog

United States retail sales fell in June for the second consecutive month, to $360 billion dollars. This represents a 0.5 percent decline for the month, implying an annualized drop of six percent. Motor vehicles and parts also declined but at a much faster rate of two and a quarter percent for the month, implying a… Read more

United States’ May Retail Sales were $362.5 billion, down 1.2 percent from April. The decline was broad based. Motor vehicles, building materials, gasoline, clothing, and general merchandise all fell significantly. Furniture/home furnishings, electronics/appliances, food, health/personal, and sporting goods/hobby were up but just a bit. Building material purchases dove 9.3 percent following an 8.4 percent jump… Read more

United States retail sales data through February show that while the last three months have been positive they have not in fact been inspiring at all. We see that the volatility in total sales was driven by the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts market during August, September, and October of 2009. I attribute this… Read more