After the profligacy of the stimulus bailout in the first two months, US retail sales fell in May, suggesting that consumers are starting to shift more spending to services as the economy reopens.
Figures released by the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday showed that total retail sales fell 1.3% in May; the April figure was revised up to 0.9%. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect retail sales to fall 0.8% in may.
Over the past year, fiscal stimulus has pushed up household savings and supported demand for goods, making retail sales much higher than they were before the pandemic. The decline in May showed that spending on goods began to slow as travel increased and entertainment reopened.