{"id":353,"date":"2026-05-14T16:05:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=353"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:05:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:05:01","slug":"retail-sales-growth-slowed-in-april-from-march-as-higher-gas-cost-leaves-less-room-for-nonessentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=353","title":{"rendered":"Retail sales growth slowed in April from March as higher gas cost leaves less room for nonessentials"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…<\/strong><\/div>\n
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By ANNE D\u2019INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Shoppers tempered their spending in April as\u00a0higher gas prices\u00a0fueled by the\u00a0Iran war\u00a0meant less money left over for some nonessentials like clothing and furniture. But they\u2019re still buying, thanks to more generous government tax refunds.<\/p>\n

Read more Road closures coming Sunday for Colfax Marathon<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, economists worry that spending will fall off more dramatically in the coming months as benefits from the refunds dissipate, and shoppers continue to grapple with the cumulative impact of rising gas prices at the pump.<\/p>\n

Retail sales rose 0.5% in April, a slowdown from the revised growth level of 1.6% in March, according to Commerce Department data released Thursday. March marked the largest one-month increase in retail spending in more than three years, largely because gas prices spiked higher rapidly.<\/p>\n

Excluding sales at gas stations, retail sales in April were up 0.3%. That\u2019s a slowdown from the 0.7% pace, excluding business from gas stations, in March.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, shopping was uneven.<\/p>\n

Sales at department stores fell 3.2%, while sales at furniture and home furnishings stores slipped 2%. Business at building material and garden equipment had a modest 0.1% increase. But online retailers and electronics and appliance stores both posted solid sales gains.<\/p>\n

The snapshot offers only a partial look at consumer spending and doesn\u2019t include things like travel and hotel stays. The lone services category \u2013 restaurants \u2013 registered a solid 0.6% increase.<\/p>\n

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The so-called control group\u2014which excludes food services, autos, building materials and gas station sales and is used to calculate economic growth\u2014rose 0.5%. That offered a good sign of solid spending by consumers, economists said.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Iran war\u00a0that began in late February has led to the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off one-fifth of the world\u2019s daily oil supply. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose again overnight to $4.53 on Thursday. That\u2019s $1.35 more than it cost a year ago, according to motor club AAA.<\/p>\n

Economists had believed that\u00a0larger tax refunds\u00a0from President Donald Trump\u2019s tax cut legislation would kick start spending at the start of the year. But soaring gas prices are taking a bigger slice out of American paychecks, leaving less for things like dining out, new clothes or other treats.<\/p>\n

Oliver Allen, senior economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, estimated in a report published Thursday that individual income tax refunds in April were $22 billion higher than in the same month in 2025, equivalent to around 3% of monthly retail sales and slightly bigger than the hit to households from the jump in gas prices over the same period.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSome of this money will have been saved, but much of it has been spent,\u201d he wrote. \u201cBut the flow of refunds will taper dramatically in May, leaving consumers far more exposed to the surge in fuel costs. \u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Republican governor candidates will debate Thursday in event co-sponsored by The Denver Post<\/a><\/p>\n

Allen expects a \u201cmeaningful pullback\u201d in discretionary spending in the second half of the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimates that higher tax refunds have offset the impact of gas prices by a ratio of around 2 to 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith refund season behind us and gas prices still creeping higher, that will flip in the months ahead, putting downward pressure on spending growth,\u201d he wrote Thursday.<\/p>\n

Still, U.S. employers have so far defied the economic shock from the war and last month added a surprisingly strong 115,000 jobs. And Thursday the Labor Department reported weekly\u00a0applications for unemployment benefits\u00a0of 211,000, within a historically low range.<\/p>\n

But concerning data about rising prices has arrived in waves this week.<\/p>\n

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that the U.S. producer price index \u2014 which tracks inflation before it hits consumers \u2014\u00a0shot up 1.4%\u00a0in April, the biggest monthly gain in more than four years. A day before that, the closely watched consumer price index\u00a0jumped 3.8%\u00a0from April 2025 \u2014 the biggest year-over-year increase in more than three years. Those price hikes, again, largely do to soaring energy prices, have begun to show up in everything from plane tickets and baggage fees, to soap and toothpaste.<\/p>\n

A clearer picture of how inflation is impacting Americans may arrive next week when major U.S. retailers like Walmart and Target begin to release quarterly financial results.<\/p>\n

Some companies are already seeing warning signs.<\/p>\n

Coulter Lewis is the co-founder of Sunday Lawn and Garden, a Boulder, Colorado-based vendor of lawn care products like fertilizer. Lewis noted that from January through the end of April sales soared 70% compared to a year ago. But underneath that growth, he\u2019s seeing growing financial strain from customers dealing with higher prices from the gas pump and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Its wholesale business is faring well, but shoppers are leaning away from committing to the company\u2019s subscriptions, which cost $300 a year. At the same time, Sunday Lawn and Garden is benefiting from shoppers trading down from professional lawn services, which could cost $1,000 a year, to its products and services for do-it-yourself projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re spending more money on fewer things,\u201d he said. \u201cThat trade-down from pro service is like, \u2018okay, well we\u2019ve got to make room for these other increases in our life, and so I\u2019m going to try to do this myself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Today in History: May 14, Skylab, the first American space station, launches into space<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shoppers pulled back on spending in April as higher gas prices fueled by the Iran war meant less money left over for nonessential goods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRetail sales growth slowed in April from March as higher gas cost leaves less room for nonessentials - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=353\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Retail sales growth slowed in April from March as higher gas cost leaves less room for nonessentials - 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