US retail sales slow in April

Major US retailers, such as Target, Gap and Macy’s, missed sales forecasts for April due to unusually warm weather in March and an earlier Easter this year, according to the New York Times.

The Thomson-Reuters same-store sales index, which tracks monthly retail sales for stores open at least a year, showed sales slowed in April from a month earlier. Sales rose 0.8 percent compared with 4.3 percent in March, Reuters reported.

Analysts had expected April sales to jump 1.5 percent and they blamed the timing of Easter, which was more than two weeks earlier than last year, and the unusually warm weather in March, for pulling forward some sales, the Associated Press noted.

According to the AP, last month’s sales marked the sector’s worst performance since 2009 and was further evidence that the US economy was not out of the woods just yet.

The disappointing sales results came after other negative data on US jobs, factory orders and housing in recent weeks as the world’s largest economy grows in fits and starts.

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While the index only tracks 20 retailers, it provides a good snapshot of economic activity in the United States, with retail sales accounting for more than 70 percent of economic growth. But analysts said it was better to look at the combined sales for March and April for a more accurate gauge of consumer spending, CNBC said.

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