US retail sales likely grew 0.2% for June - Westpac

Analysts at Westpac expect the US retail sales to post a growth of 0.2% for June, after May saw the weakest outcome for retail sales since January 2016 as activity fell 0.3%, where the decline was also well below the consensus expectation of +0.1%.

Key Quotes

“Gasoline and auto sales both subtracted from total sales growth in the month, but even core sales were weak – unchanged in the month following a soft 0.2% rise in March.”

“The weak underlying trend is not expected to reverse in the near future. Rather, growth is set to persist at or near current levels.”

“Total sales growth near 4% is certainly not strong, but nor is it overly weak. What makes the recent and expected pace of growth surprising is that it comes at a time of full employment and very strong confidence. In a relative sense, the current underlying pace of sales is very disappointing.”