US April retail sales +0.1% vs 0.0% expected

• Prior was +1.5%

Details:

• Ex-autos +0.1% vs +0.3% expected
• Prior ex autos +0.6%
• Ex autos and gas +0.2% vs +0.9% prior
• Control group -0.2% vs +0.3% expected
• Prior control +0.4% (revised to +0.5%)
• Retail sales y/y vs +4.91% prior

The control group is the key metric in this report and it was a disappointment. I wouldn’t read too much into it though as it came after a strong month.

Some notable parts of the report

• Food services and drinking places +0.8% (there is high consumer sensitivity here)
• Clothing +0.9% (tariff front running?)
• Building materials and garden +0.9% (good sign on housing)
• Furniture and home furnishings +1.4% (again, good for housing)
• Motor vehicles +0.9% (tariff frontrunning?)
• Grocery stores +0.1%

The only real weakness here is in grocery stores so overall I’d say this report is a strong endorsement of the health of the consumer even after the tariff war kicked off. Some of that could be tariff front-running so we’ll see if it holds up but it’s a good start.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.