US May Retail Sales -0.3%; Consensus +0.1%
06/13/2000
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright ¸ 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
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*DJ US May Retail Sales Ex-Autos Unchanged; Consensus +0.3%
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*DJ US April Retail Sales Revised To -0.6% From -0.2%
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=DJ Data Snap: Retail Sales Drop In May, Continuing Slowdown
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U.S. Retail Sales !Surprise: Yes !
May April !Trend: Sign Of!
Overall Sales -0.3% -0.6%r ! Econ Slowing !
Excluding Autos UNCH -0.4%r !Survey: +0.1% !
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WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Retail sales fell again last month as consumers continued to pull back the reins on spending.
Overall sales at U.S. retailers slipped 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, providing further evidence that the Federal Reserve's interest rate-hiking campaign to slow the overheated economy is taking hold. Sales outside auto dealerships - whose oversized price tags often skew the government's monthly retail report - were unchanged from the month before.
Sales of $265.98 billion in May followed a steeper-than-previously reported 0.6% drop in April, the government said, marking the first back-to-back decline in receipts in nearly two years. The previous month's sales tally had been reported as a slighter 0.2% drop.
Receipts came in much weaker than anticipated. The median forecast of 15 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC was for a 0.1% rise in May retail sales, offsetting some of April's decline. Excluding automobiles, sales were expected to have risen a healthy 0.3%.
The measured decline in May, combined with the wider drop in April, should provide some relief to investors concerned that interest rate hawks at the Fed would hike lending rates more often over the rest of the year if consumer spending continued. The sales data, along with other recent information about the state of the economy, show that the economy may be slowing as the Fed had hoped.
The sales mix was uneven in May. Receipts for big-ticket items fell a solid 1.0% for the month, with sharp declines reported from building materials outlets and auto dealerships. Sales at furniture outlets fell 0.3% in May.
Nondurable goods sales, meanwhile, rose 0.2% last month, on the strength of demand at discount stores, clothing shops and drugstores. Gasoline stores recorded a 0.3% increase in receipts.
-By Jerry Guidera, Dow Jones Newswires, 202 862-9275
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