by Calculated Risk on 5/12/2005 09:51:00 AM

The Census Bureaus released the retail sales report for April.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for April, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $344.9 billion, an increase of 1.4 percent (±0.7%) from the previous month and up 8.6 percent (±0.8%) from April 2004. Total sales for the February through April 2005 period were up 7.5 percent (±0.5%) from the same period a year ago. The February to March 2005 percent change was revised from +0.3 percent (±0.7%)* to +0.4 percent (±0.3%).

Retail trade sales were up 1.4 percent (±0.7%) from March and were 8.7 percent (±1.0%) above last year. Gasoline station sales were up 19.8 percent (±3.1%) from April 2004 and sales of nonstore retailers were up 12.4 percent (±3.5%) from last year.

Meanwhile, WalMart warned:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 14 percent increase in first-quarter earnings Thursday, but the results missed Wall Street estimates. The world's largest retailer also warned that second-quarter results would likely be lower than expected as unseasonably cool weather and higher gasoline prices continue to hurt business.

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