Retail Sales Drop More Than Expected in May But Revisions for April Were Positive

The impact of the third round of stimulus died in May. 

Details 

• Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $620.2 billion, a decrease of 1.3% from the previous month, but 28.1 percent above May 2020. 
• Total sales for March 2021 through May 2021 period were up 36.2 percent from the same period a year ago. 
• The March 2021 to April 2021 percent change was revised from virtually unchanged to up 0.9 percent.

Retail Sales as Reported and Revised

The above chart is from Bloomberg Econoday. I created the lead chart from a BLS data download.

Synopsis 

Covid has so distorted the month-over-month and year-over-year numbers that such comparisons look ridiculous. 

However, the three big peaks in the lead chart following the initial Covid-related plunge tell the story.

The stimulus has now worn off. What will Biden and the Fed do for an encore?