US Retail Sales decline by 1% in March

According to figures released by the US Census Bureau on Friday, retail sales in the US fell by 1% on a monthly basis to $691.7 billion in March. This report was worse than the market consensus of a decline of 0.4% and followed February’s contraction of 0.2% (updated from -0.4%).

Compared to experts’ expectations of -0.3%, Retail Sales Ex-Autos decreased by 0.8% during the same period.

“Retail trade sales were down 1.2% from February 2023, but up 1.5% above last year,” the publication further read. “Nonstore retailers were up 12.3% from last year, while food services and drinking places were up 13.0% from March 2022.”