The Commerce Department said sales dropped 0.2 percent last month after a 0.3 percent decrease in February. February sales were revised down to a 0.3% decrease from an initial estimate of a 0.1% gain.
Sales at retailers nationwide declined 0.2% last month, mostly because of cheaper gas and incentives by auto dealers to drum up sales.
Some contend that Winter Storm Stella-which devastated parts of the US Northeast last month, could also have something to do with lower retail sales.
"As with past year, we expect the first quarter (and especially March) weakness in auto sales to be short-lived as the job market expands".
"The downturn in auto sales is going to be a headwind for retail in general", Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors, told Business Insider.
However, the increases were offset by significant declines in sales by building material and supplies dealers and gas stations.
Citing the most recent Consumer Price Index numbers that showed prices reversing course in March, Kleinhenz said a lack of pricing power continues to plague the retail industry. Compared to March a year ago retail sales increased 5.2 percent. This would be the weakest performance in three years and follows a 2.1% growth pace in the fourth quarter.
First Reports Coming Out of Afghanistan: MOAB Killed 100 ISIS Fighters
Nicholson said US and Afghan forces were on the ground after the strike and had not seen any evidence of civilian casualties. This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K.
On a three-month average, NRF said that retail sales are up 2.8 percent annually.
The retail "data are impossible to square with the stratospheric levels of consumer confidence recorded across an array of surveys", said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics That suggests either that "spending will accelerate markedly.or confidence will decline".
In March, the NRF announced its 2017 retail sales projections from, which called for an annual gain in the 3.7-to-4.2 percent range, with online and other non-store/online sales (which NRF includes in its over all number) to head up between 8 and 12 percent.While not a direct comparison, NRF's 2017 projection would top the 3.3 percent annual gain in retail sales from 2015 to 2016, based on data issued by the United States Department of Commerce. Retailers have been hurt by declining mall traffic and increased competition from online retailers, led by Amazon.com. Sales at nonstore retailers decreased 0.6% from February, while increasing 11.9% year-over-year.
That has forced retailers like J.C. Penney Co Inc JCP.N, Abercrombie & Fitch ANF.N and Macy's Inc M.N to scale back on brick-and-mortar operations.
Food costs edged up 0.3 percent last month but remain only 0.5 percent higher than a year ago. The "core CPI" is up 2% over the past 12 months, the smallest gain since the fall of 2015. Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence rose 0.2 percent after climbing 0.3 percent in February.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy, dropped 0.1 percent last month. The cost of food consumed at home increased 0.5 percent, the biggest gain since May 2014.
Comments