these categories had suffered record declines in sales in march and april online and mailorder retail sales rose 90 sales at building material stores rose 109 the surge in demand for motor vehicles helped to lift manufacturing production 38 in may a separate report from the fed showed on tuesday after collapsing by a record 155 in april manufacturing which accounts for 11 of the us economy remains hobbled by supplychain disruptions cheaper crude oil has made oil and gas wells unprofitable impacting demand for heavy equipment and machinery we expect a gradual recovery over the next few years with growth lagging that of the overall economy said gus faucher chief economist at pnc financial in pittsburgh one potential upside risk is if firms decide to shorten their supply chains because of the pandemic and the associated disruptions to global trade moving manufacturing capacity back to the us stocks on wall street rallied on the reports and data showing reduced covid19 death rates in a trial of a generic steroid drug the dollar rose against a basket of currencies prices of us treasuries fell excluding automobiles gasoline building materials and food services retail sales surged 11 in may after tumbling 124 in april these socalled core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of the gross domestic product report economists expect consumer spending which accounts for more than twothirds of us economic activity could decline at as much as a 37 annualized rate in the second quarter that could result in gdp falling at around a 36 pace in that period consumer spending contracted at a 68 rate in the first quarter the sharpest drop since the second quarter of 1980 the economy shrank at a 5 pace in the januarymarch quarter the deepest contraction since the 20072009 great recession weak gdp this quarter was underscored by other data on tuesday showing a tumble in business inventories in april reuters published on jun 16 2020 at 1054 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app us car dealerships car dealerships us auto sales federal reserve international homenewsindustryus economy starts long recovery as retail sales post record jump