When Is the Next US Retail Sales Report? 2026 Release Dates

Retail Sales Release Schedule 2026

The US Census Bureau publishes the advance retail sales report roughly mid-month, covering the previous calendar month. The early 2026 schedule was compressed because the 43-day federal government shutdown in late 2025 delayed data collection: November 2025 data did not appear until January 14, 2026, and the Bureau did not return to its normal one-month publication lag until the May 14 release. The March data release was also moved from April 16 to April 21. All times below are 8:30am Eastern Time.

The release covering December 2026 data will land in January 2027. The Census Bureau has not yet published its 2027 schedule; this page will be updated when it does.

What Time Is Retail Sales Released?

The retail sales report is released at 8:30am Eastern Time, the standard slot for major US economic data. That is 1:30pm in London, 2:30pm in Frankfurt and Paris, and 9:30pm in Tokyo for most of the year. US equity index futures, Treasury yields and the dollar react within seconds of the release, a full hour before the New York stock market opens at 9:30am ET. Traders in Europe see the number land in the early afternoon, often making it the dominant data event of the London session on release days.

What Is the Retail Sales Report?

The retail sales report, formally the Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services, is published by the US Census Bureau, part of the Department of Commerce. It is the first official estimate of how much American consumers spent at retailers and restaurants in the previous month, which is why it is widely known as the “advance” estimate. Markets treat it as one of the principal federal economic indicators, alongside the jobs report and the inflation releases.

The report covers sales at around a dozen categories of retailer: motor vehicle and parts dealers, petrol stations, food and beverage stores, general merchandise stores, online and other non-store retailers, clothing, electronics, furniture, building materials, health and personal care stores, sporting goods and hobby retailers, and food services and drinking places. The headline figure is the month-over-month percentage change in total seasonally adjusted sales. April 2026 sales, for example, totalled $757.1 billion, up 0.5% from March.

A key nuance: retail sales are reported in nominal dollars. The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings, holidays and trading-day differences, but not for inflation. When prices rise sharply, sales can climb simply because everything costs more, not because people are buying more. The record jump in petrol station receipts that helped push the March 2026 headline up 1.7% is a good example: much of it reflected higher fuel prices rather than higher volumes. Analysts often deflate the series with the consumer price index to estimate real spending.

Economists pay particular attention to the “control group”, which strips out the most volatile categories: motor vehicles and parts, petrol stations, building materials, and food services. What remains maps closely onto the goods-spending component of US GDP, so the control group is the cleanest monthly read on the consumer spending engine of the world’s largest economy. A headline beat with a control-group miss is often read as a weak report, and vice versa.

How the Data Is Collected

The advance estimate comes from a survey of approximately 5,000 retail and food services firms drawn from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey panel of around 13,000 businesses. Companies report their sales for the calendar month, the Census Bureau weights the responses to represent the more than 3 million retail establishments in the United States, and the results are seasonally adjusted using the Bureau’s X-13ARIMA-SEATS methodology.

Because the advance estimate is built from a subsample with a short collection window, it is revised twice: a preliminary revision in the following month’s release and a second revision the month after, when the full survey panel has responded. Revisions can be material. The February 2026 reading, first reported as a 0.6% rise, was later revised up to 0.7%. Annual benchmark revisions, tied to the Annual Retail Trade Survey and the five-yearly Economic Census, can reshape the levels further. Traders react to the advance number, but economists tracking the trend always work with the revised series.

The process depends on the federal statistical system functioning. During the 43-day government shutdown in late 2025, the Census Bureau could not collect or publish data, leaving markets without retail sales figures for over two months and forcing the compressed catch-up schedule seen in early 2026.

What Retail Sales Means for Your Money

Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of US GDP, and retail sales is the earliest official monthly measure of it. When Americans keep spending, businesses keep hiring, corporate revenues hold up and the economy tends to keep growing. When sales stall for several months, as they did across the late-2025 holiday season, it raises the odds of slower growth, weaker hiring and, eventually, interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

That matters well beyond the United States. The American consumer is the single largest source of demand in the global economy, buying goods made in Asia, luxury items from Europe and commodities from everywhere. Exporters from Germany to South Korea, and the investors who hold their shares, feel the effects of a sustained US spending slowdown. Currency markets respond too: strong US retail sales typically lift the dollar against the pound, euro and yen as traders price a firmer economy and higher-for-longer US rates.

For equity investors, the report is a direct read on the retail sector. Strong numbers tend to support shares in companies such as Walmart, Amazon, Costco and Target, while weak categories flag trouble for specific industries: soft furniture and electronics sales in December 2025, for instance, signalled pressure on big-ticket discretionary retailers. For anyone with a pension or index fund, the bigger channel is rates. Resilient spending keeps the Fed cautious about cutting; faltering spending pulls rate cuts forward, which moves bond prices, mortgage costs and stock valuations worldwide.

How Markets React to Retail Sales

Retail sales is a market-moving release, though typically a tier below the jobs report and CPI. The reaction depends on the gap between the actual figure and the consensus forecast. A clear beat usually lifts Treasury yields and the dollar and can pressure rate-sensitive stocks, because stronger spending argues against Federal Reserve rate cuts. A clear miss does the opposite: yields fall, rate-cut bets build and equities often rally on easier-policy hopes, unless the miss is bad enough to stoke recession fears.

The April 21, 2026 release showed the pattern: the 1.7% March surge, well above the 1.4% expected, pushed yields higher as traders trimmed expectations for near-term Fed easing. The interaction with rate expectations is the key transmission channel. In periods when the Fed is explicitly data-dependent, retail sales beats and misses get amplified; when policy is on hold and inflation dominates, reactions are more muted.

Traders also look past the headline within minutes. A headline boosted by petrol prices or car sales but with a soft control group is frequently faded, while a quiet headline masking a strong control group can spark a delayed move once analysts digest the detail. Retail sector stocks, consumer discretionary ETFs and currencies such as the dollar-yen pair tend to show the sharpest immediate reactions.

Recent Retail Sales Readings

The table below shows the last 12 months of data, as reported by the US Census Bureau and subsequently revised. Figures are seasonally adjusted month-over-month percentage changes. September to December 2025 figures were published on a delayed schedule because of the government shutdown.

The trend shows a soft patch through the 2025 holiday season, with flat sales in October and December and an outright decline in January, followed by a spring rebound. The March 2026 surge was flattered by a record rise in petrol station receipts amid higher energy prices, but the control group has now risen for four consecutive months, pointing to genuinely resilient underlying spending into mid-2026.

Related Economic Events

Retail sales is best read alongside the other major US releases that shape the growth and rates picture.

• US GDP Report: the quarterly growth figure that monthly retail sales data feeds directly into.
• US CPI Report: the inflation release needed to translate nominal retail sales into real spending.
• US Jobs Report: the employment and wages data that determines how much consumers have to spend.
• FOMC Meetings: the Federal Reserve decisions that retail sales strength or weakness ultimately influences.

Frequently Asked Questions

What time is the retail sales report released?

At 8:30am Eastern Time, which is 1:30pm in London for most of the year. The next release is June 17, 2026, covering May 2026 data. The report is published roughly mid-month by the US Census Bureau, covering the previous calendar month.

What is the retail sales control group?

The control group is total retail sales excluding motor vehicles and parts, petrol stations, building materials and food services. Stripping out these volatile categories leaves a series that closely tracks the goods-spending component of GDP, making it the figure economists watch most closely. In April 2026 the control group rose 0.5%, its fourth consecutive increase.

Is retail sales adjusted for inflation?

No. The figures are seasonally adjusted but reported in nominal dollars, so rising prices can inflate the headline without any increase in the quantity of goods sold. The 1.7% March 2026 jump, driven partly by a record rise in petrol station receipts, illustrates why analysts compare retail sales with the CPI to gauge real spending.

What was the last retail sales reading?

The May 14, 2026 release showed April 2026 retail and food services sales of $757.1 billion, up 0.5% from March, with the control group also up 0.5%. Both figures slightly beat consensus forecasts.

Why does retail sales move markets?

Because consumer spending drives about two-thirds of US GDP, the report is an early signal of economic momentum and, through the Federal Reserve’s reaction, of where interest rates are heading. Surprises versus the consensus forecast move Treasury yields, the dollar and equity futures within seconds of the 8:30am ET release.

How does retail sales feed into GDP?

The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses Census Bureau retail sales data, particularly the control group, as a core input when estimating personal consumption expenditures, the largest component of GDP. Strong monthly retail figures typically prompt forecasters to raise their estimates for the quarter’s GDP growth, and weak figures the reverse.

Source: US Census Bureau, Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey. Schedule and results are updated after each release.