Retail sales slowed to a crawl in April vs. the previous month, rising a slim 0.1%, the US Census Bureau reports. Excluding gasoline, retail spending was flat. The news contrasts sharply with the March data, which revealed a dramatic 1% jump in spending. For the moment, however, it’s reasonable to dismiss the latest update as noise. The year-over-year change through last month (+4.0%) was off only marginally from annual pace in March (4.1%), suggesting that retail activity is still rolling forward at a robust rate.
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