U.S. Retail Sales Log The Best Gain In 6 Months: 5 Picks
Zacks Investment Research | Jun 14, 2018 09:01PM ET
U.S. retail sales in May logged the biggest gain in the last six months, as Americans’ spending spree remains solid regardless of higher gas prices.
Continued upswing in retail numbers from April through May confirmed that a tightening labor market, upbeat wage rates and lower taxes are leading to more money in commoners’ wallets.
Apparel shops, restaurants, departmental stores, automobile retailers, building-materials outlets, to name a few, saw an uptick in sales last month. So, it’s time to invest in retailers that are likely to make the most of the bullish economic sentiments.
What Do the Numbers Exhibit?
Yesterday’s Commerce Department report revealed that overall U.S. retail sales in May jumped 0.8% to $502 billion, marking its biggest gain since November 2017. Sales upswing was 5.9% last month, on a year-over-year basis. April sales were, in fact, revised to show a 0.4% advance instead of 0.2%.
The so-called core retail sales that exclude food services, auto dealers, building materials stores and gasoline stations rose 0.5%, subsequent to an upwardly revised 0.6% gain in April. This indicated that the rise in gasoline prices failed to curb consumer spending levels.
Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline was $2.92 in May, up almost 16 cents from April and the highest since mid-2014. With global oil prices rising on account of Zacks Investment Research
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