"The consumer is pulling back"
- Michael Brown, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC
U.S. month on month retail sales fell in May, said the Census Bureau on Wednesday. Sales declined 0.2 per cent after erasing another 0.2 per cent in April, a sign the economy is cooling.
"The consumer is pulling back," said Michael Brown, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, who correctly forecast the drop in sales.
"There isn't a lot of job creation. We will continue to see softer numbers."
"There is clearly some slowing in the pace of consumer spending broadly suggesting noticeably slower growth in consumption in the second quarter," said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York.
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