Weak decline in retail sales

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The seasonally-adjusted volume index of retail sales decreased by 0.1 percent from August to September 2019. This follows an increase of 0.1 percent from July to August.

The long-term trend in retail sales now shows a steady increase since the beginning of 2019, but it has flattened out the last two months.

Figure 1. Retail sales volume index, seasonally adjusted and trend. 2015=100

Retail trade, except sales of motor vehicles seasonally adjusted Retail trade, except sales of motor vehicles trend
Jan. 2013 99.5 98.2
Feb. 2013 98.9 98.4
Mar. 2013 98.6 98.6
Apr. 2013 97.3 98.6
May. 2013 100.1 98.7
June 2013 99.2 98.7
July 2013 98.3 98.7
Aug. 2013 98.7 98.7
Sep. 2013 99.1 98.6
Oct. 2013 98.2 98.6
Nov. 2013 98.4 98.7
Dec. 2013 98.8 98.8
Jan. 2014 98.9 99.1
Feb. 2014 99.5 99.4
Mar. 2014 100.2 99.7
Apr. 2014 100.7 99.9
May. 2014 99.8 100.1
June 2014 100.9 100.2
July 2014 99.0 100.2
Aug. 2014 99.9 100.2
Sep. 2014 100.3 100.2
Oct. 2014 100.1 100.2
Nov. 2014 100.0 100.2
Dec. 2014 100.7 100.3
Jan. 2015 100.0 100.5
Feb. 2015 100.7 100.6
Mar. 2015 100.8 100.6
Apr. 2015 103.5 100.6
May. 2015 98.8 100.5
June 2015 100.1 100.3
July 2015 100.4 100.3
Aug. 2015 100.9 100.3
Sep. 2015 100.1 100.4
Oct. 2015 100.8 100.4
Nov. 2015 100.4 100.4
Dec. 2015 100.0 100.3
Jan. 2016 100.7 100.1
Feb. 2016 99.8 99.9
Mar. 2016 98.9 99.6
Apr. 2016 98.9 99.5
May. 2016 100.0 99.4
June 2016 99.9 99.4
July 2016 99.1 99.5
Aug. 2016 99.7 99.7
Sep. 2016 99.8 99.8
Oct. 2016 100.9 100.0
Nov. 2016 100.4 100.2
Dec. 2016 98.1 100.4
Jan. 2017 100.0 100.7
Feb. 2017 101.3 101.0
Mar. 2017 101.3 101.3
Apr. 2017 101.1 101.5
May. 2017 102.7 101.7
June 2017 102.4 101.7
July 2017 102.4 101.7
Aug. 2017 101.9 101.7
Sep. 2017 101.3 101.8
Oct. 2017 101.4 101.8
Nov. 2017 103.3 102.0
Dec. 2017 102.2 102.2
Jan. 2018 101.8 102.4
Feb. 2018 102.5 102.5
Mar. 2018 102.4 102.6
Apr. 2018 102.9 102.7
May. 2018 105.3 102.7
June 2018 102.2 102.7
July 2018 102.4 102.7
Aug. 2018 102.9 102.6
Sep. 2018 102.4 102.5
Oct. 2018 102.1 102.4
Nov. 2018 103.4 102.4
Dec. 2018 101.2 102.3
Jan. 2019 102.9 102.4
Feb. 2019 101.7 102.5
Mar. 2019 102.4 102.6
Apr. 2019 104.3 102.8
May. 2019 103.0 103.0
June 2019 102.5 103.1
July 2019 103.3 103.3
Aug. 2019 103.4 103.4
Sep. 2019 103.3 103.4

Seasonally-adjusted figures show that retail sales volume was unchanged in July to September compared with April to June.

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