by Calculated Risk on 5/13/2014 08:30:00 AM
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Retail Sales increased 0.1% in April
On a monthly basis, retail sales increased 0.1% from March to April (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 3.8% from April 2013. Sales in March were revised up from a 1.1% increase to a 1.5% increase. From the Census Bureau report:
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for April, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $434.6 billion, an increase of 0.1 percent from the previous month, and 4.0 percent above April 2013.
![Retail Sales](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8bBQmfh0nmH-h82QoywDNh-7I0LZudm8lW2iFmsUKG_rnSlZ0QVxHGAecnYVm-xmvpKHJ36Kf4cONmoaGP8eYIQeucFlz5SJUIiypWtVL9DGn1qxFLnWH_oAXQw3PEgLxgmHJ/s320/RetailApr2014.jpg)
This graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales and food service, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline).
Retail sales ex-autos were unchanged.
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993.
![Year-over-year change in Retail Sales](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0y2x5sbGBU-r1zZWinGkndbQ_LjGdLlweED_7xoRiycnP3eLEFuQ2mdT2Sd_nrTV3ZlplmKb14dhTCQnx3i1ggWE4YQ4VgXHNkJ2EwtIm5GFmUNGqPYDUAyJQu8hRxIfL284/s320/RetailYoYApr2014.jpg)
The increase in April was well below consensus expectations - however sales in March were revised up.