Retail sales slip in March

U.S. retail and food services sales lagged behind February's numbers last month, bringing the LBM category down with it (though still with above-average performance).

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March 2017, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $470.8 billion. That's down 0.2% from February, but 5.2% above March 2016.

Retail trade sales also fell 0.2% for the month, though they were up 5.5% year-over-year.

For building material and garden equipment & supplies dealers, adjusted retail sales for March came in at $31.1 billion, down 1.5% from February and up 6.3% from last March.

Electronics & appliance stores saw the biggest improvement over last month, jumping 2.6%, even though they were down 0.7% from last year.

Gasoline stations fared the best over the year, increasing 14.3%, followed by nonstore retailers, which improved 11.9%.