WASHINGTON, June 15 – U.S.
Despite last month’s decline reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, the trend in retail sales remains strong.
During the pandemic, demand shifted to goods like electronics and motor vehicles as millions of people worked from home, switched to online classes and avoided public transportation.
There were also declines in sales at furniture retailers as well as at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores.
Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales dropped 0.7% after a revised 0.4% fall in April.
Vaccinations have allowed for a broader reopening of the economy.
In a separate report on Tuesday, the Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand increased 0.8% last month after rising 0.6% in April.
With the PPI and CPI data in hand, economists are forecasting that the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, rose at least 0.4% in May.
Economists will, however, be watching to see if the Fed opens discussion about when and how it will withdraw some of the support to the economy.
“Inflationary pressures are strong in the U.S.
“By our estimate, this program should provide approximately $16.7 billion in additional income per month in the second half of this year, for a total of $100 billion,” said Stephen Juneau, a U.S.
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day.