US retail and food services sales fell 0.6 percent in July from June, to 763.6 billion dollars, according to advance estimates released on August 14 by the US Census Bureau (release CB26-131). The drop came in well below the 0.1 percent month-on-month gain expected by economists, as reported by investingLive, and marks the first monthly decline after a run of positive readings.
Compared with July 2025, sales were up 5.0 percent. The May-to-June change was left unrevised at plus 0.2 percent, with June sales at 768.1 billion dollars; over the May-July period, sales rose 6.3 percent from the same period a year earlier.
The miss was broad. Excluding motor vehicles, sales fell 0.3 percent on the month against an expected rise of 0.2 percent. The "control group", which strips out autos, gasoline and building materials, declined 0.4 percent versus the 0.3 percent gain expected: according to investingLive, it was the first negative reading for the control group since September 2025.
Within the detail, motor vehicle and parts dealers fell 1.8 percent on the month, while electronics and appliance stores dropped 0.5 percent. Building material and garden equipment dealers rose 0.3 percent, and food services and drinking places gained 0.5 percent.
Adam Button of investingLive cautioned that "it's only one report", but noted that the data dents the view that the US consumer will keep spending as long as the labor market holds up. The release lands ahead of the Federal Reserve's September meeting, after July consumer prices rose 3.4 percent year on year and producer prices were flat in July, according to previous official releases.
The next advance retail sales estimate is scheduled for September 16, 2026.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services, July 2026 (CB26-131): https://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf
- investingLive, "US July retail sales -0.6% vs +0.1% expected": https://investinglive.com/news/us-july-retail-sales-0-6-vs-0-1-expected/
- TradingEconomics, US Retail Sales: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/retail-sales
