Report: Retail Sales Jumped Significantly in May

Retail sales jumped significantly in May, showing strong increases both month-over-month and year-over-year, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, powered by Affinity Solutions, released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF).

Total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, were up 1.35 percent seasonally adjusted month-over-month and up 3.03 percent unadjusted YoY in May, according to the Retail Monitor. That compared with an increase of 0.26 percent month-over-month and a decrease of 0.6 percent YoY in April. The Retail Monitor calculation of core retail sales (excluding restaurants in addition to automobiles and gasoline) was up 1.2 percent month-over-month in May and up 2.88 percent YoY. That compared with an increase of 0.4 percent month-over-month and a decrease of 0.05 percent YoY in April.

Total sales were up 2.13 percent YoY for the first five months of the year and core sales were up 2.48 percent. The month-over-month gains were the highest since April 2023, when total sales were up 1.13 percent and core sales were up 1.27 percent.

Total Retail's Take: Why the good news? According to NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay, "spending is being supported by the job market and real wage gains. Inflation remains stubborn but is almost entirely in services rather than retail goods." In addition, he said May’s year-over-year gains "are in line with what we saw earlier this year, and the month-over-month increases are the largest in more than a year. We believe this underscores that April’s moderation was an outlier.”