Retail sales plunge way more than expected
|Economists missed the mark badly this month on retail sales estimates.
The Commerce Department posted miserable Retail Sales Numbers for April.
Retail sales declined 16.4% vs Econoday Expectations of an 11.2% decline. Excluding autos, the miss was much bigger.
Ex-auto sales declined 17.2% compared to the expected 8.6% decline.
Commerce department statement
Due to recent events surrounding COVID-19, many businesses are operating on a limited capacity or have ceased operations completely.
Advance Retail Sales
Clothing was down a whopping 78.8%, electronics 60.6%, Gasoline 28.8%. From a year ago, clothing was down 89.3%.
Even grocery store sales were down, a surprise to me.
The one bright spot was nonstore retailers such as Amazon, up 8.4%.
No V-shaped recovery
Despite talk from hopers, even the fed understands there will not be a V-Shaped recovery.
Instead they are promoting a helicopter drop of money. For details, please see Panic Sets In: Fed Promotes More Free Money
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