US retail sales fell in May compared to the previous month as consumers slowed down on stocking up ahead of tariffs.
Revenue slid 0.9% month on month — adjusted for seasonal variation — to $715.4 billion, according to data the US Census Bureau released Tuesday. The decline followed a 0.1% slip to $722 billion in April.
The National Retail Federation (NRF), which monitors spending using credit- and debit-card purchase data rather than survey-based numbers, noted that sales climbed 0.1% in May.
“Consumers are seeing their way through the uncertainty with trade policies, but I expect the inflation associated with tariffs to be felt later this year,” said NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz. “Consumers remain very price sensitive, and those costs are likely to weigh heavily on consumer budgets.”
Sales were up 3.3% from last May, versus a 5% rise in April, according to the Census Bureau.
Seven of the nine categories the NRF tracks saw year-on-year gains in May. The clothing and accessories segment — which includes jewelry — rose 3.2% year on year and 0.7% from April. Sporting goods, hobby, music and bookstores advanced 8% relative to the previous year and 0.4% month on month. Only building and garden supply stores, with a 7% year-on-year decline, and furniture and home furnishings stores, down 0.1%, experienced drops.
Image: Shoppers at a mall. (Shutterstock)
