April Retail Sales Beat Expectations

Total retail sales for April increased by 0.1 percent from March, according to figures released last week by the U.S. Commerce Department. In fact, total retail sales for April exceeded the .3 percent drop economists predicted in a Bloomberg survey, and were a marked improvement from a .5 percent decline in March. Clothing and clothing accessories stores’ sales were up by 1.2 percent over the previous month, and up 3.5 percent over last April’s sales figures.