RETAIL SALES AND TRANSPORTATION DEMAND
RETAIL SALES AND TRANSPORTATION DEMAND
Advance Retail Sales (monthly data, seasonally adjusted)
Advance retail sales are a leading indicator of retailers sales expectations and may suggest future demand for commercial transportation services. Retail stores may require faster and more reliable delivery of shipments as consumer demand increases and inventories are maintained at lower levels.
| Advanced Retail Sales | Feb-02 | Mar-02 |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced retail sales (millions of dollars) | 268,961 | 269,701 |
| Advanced retail sales percent change from same month previous year | 0.17 | 0.28 |
NOTE: Advance retail sales are advance estimates of monthly retail trade produced by the Bureau of the Census. The advance estimates are based on a small subsample of the Census Bureaus full retail sales sample.
In October 2001, advance retail sales reached $278 billion. That spike was primarily due to the jump in advance sales of automobiles and other motor vehicles.
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Service Sector Statistics Division, as of Apr. 12, 2002, available at: http://www.census.gov/svsd/www/adseries.html.