Retail Sales: Release Dates, Results & History
Retail Sales last printed -0.6 on Fri, Aug 14, 2026 against a 0.1 consensus forecast and a 0.2 prior, a -2.19 standard-deviation surprise. The next release is Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET. Captured live by Helious the moment it printed.
Retail sales is the first hard read on the consumer, who drives two-thirds of GDP. The control group, ex autos, gas, building materials, food services, feeds straight into GDP consumption estimates and is what desks actually trade. Headline noise from autos and gas prices frequently masks the real signal.
The trend, at a glance
How it moves Treasuries
A control-group beat is bearish Treasuries as GDP trackers get marked up. Nominal prints get discounted in high-inflation months since the data isn't inflation-adjusted. See it scored live on the Helious desk, or read how the standard-deviation surprise is computed.
Recent prints, as captured by the desk
| DATE | ACTUAL | FORECAST | PRIOR | SURPRISE (SD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 | -2.19 | BELOW FORECAST | |
| 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 0.00 | ON THE SCREWS |
The 2 most recent prints from the desk's live capture (began July 2026), a sample. Every row links the print page published the moment the number landed; the full graded history is served by the API.
Official series history
| PERIOD | VALUE (% M/M) | PRIOR |
|---|---|---|
| -0.58% | +0.25% | |
| +0.25% | +0.93% | |
| +0.93% | +0.67% | |
| +0.67% | +1.72% | |
| +1.72% | +0.92% | |
| +0.92% | -0.03% | |
| -0.03% | -0% | |
| -0% | +0.5% |
The most recent official rows; the chart above draws the longer series. Desk-captured prints above include the consensus forecast and standard-deviation surprise the moment each number landed.
Related indicators
Monthly, ~mid-month for the prior month · 8:30 AM ET · download a sample (CSV, recent rows), free to cite with a link to this page. The full history comes through the Helious API and MCP at api.helious.io/mcp, with depth set by plan.