US retail sales jumped 1.2% in May

United States retail sales jumped 1.2% in May, reflecting a 2% rise in auto sales (industry sales data were stronger in May so this was not a surprise), a 3.7% lift in gasoline sales (as prices rose again) and a solid 0.7% gain in core retailing ex autos and gasoline. 

Apart from a 0.3% fall in health and personal care, there were no other retail storetypes that recorded a fall in sales in May. Building materials, clothing and non-store retailing were notable, all recording gains in May of well in excess of 1%. 

This outcome suggests less reticence on the part of American householders to spend, with May's 0.3% rise in hourly earnings and hours worked no doubt supportive of incomes growth, even as renewed gains in energy prices have begun to weigh against disposable income. 

Meanwhile, business inventories posted a 0.4% rise in April, there steepest rise in almost a year, due largely to a 0.8% rise in retail stocks in that month.