US retail sales hold up in May, rise 0.4%

American consumers continued to spend at a steady clip last month.

According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, the volume of total US retail sales grew at a month-on-month clip of 0.3% in May to reach $686.57bn (consensus: -0.2%).

That compared to an unrevised gain of 0.4% in April.

Excluding automobiles and parts, retail sales were up by a tenth of a percentage point (consensus: 0.1%).

They were 0.4% higher when sales at petrol stations were also left out of the calculation.

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