Article source: ConstructConnect

Earlier, there was a reporting lag of a month of two, but the latest public and private sector data releases are now capturing the deep malaise that has set in throughout the U.S. and Canadian economies. The sugar coating has worn off and hopes that the devastation would not be as bad as imagined have proven vain. Let’s get on with reporting the latest numbers.

(1) It’s a catalogue of horrors. With many enterprises shut down or open for limited hours, and with consumers nearly everywhere exercising thrift due to actual or threatened layoffs, U.S. retail sales in April were awful. Results for some of the worst hit shopkeeper sub-categories were as follows: ‘clothing and clothing accessories stores’, -89.3% year over year (-78.8% month to month); ‘furniture and home furnishing stores’, -66.5% y/y (-58.7% m/m); ‘electronics and appliance stores’, – 64.8% y/y (-60.6% m/m); and ‘motor vehicle and parts dealers’, -32.9% y/y (-12.4% m/m).

(2) ‘Food services and drinking places’ experienced sales declines of -48.7% y/y and -29.5% m/m. Road traffic has been a mere shadow of its former self, sending ‘gasoline station’ receipts down by -42.8% y/y (-28.8% m/m). ‘Building material and garden equipment suppliers’, though, have been doing okay, +0.4% y/y (-3.5% m/m). And ‘grocery stores’ have been doing just fine, thank you, +13.2% y/y (although -13.2% m/m – a word on that in a minute). Finally, ‘nonstore retailers’, selling over the Internet, have been really cashing in, +21.6% y/y (+8.4% m/m).

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