WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. retail sales increased by the most on record in May after 2 straight months of sharp decreases as organisations resumed, offering more evidence that the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic was over or drawing to an end.
The report from the Commerce Department on Tuesday followed news early this month that the economy created 2.5 million tasks in May. Layoffs are likewise dropping and manufacturing activity is improving, though production stays at really low levels.
Still, the record jump in retail sales recovered just a portion of March and April’s decreases, leaving consumer spending and the economy on track for their most significant contraction in the 2nd quarter considering that the Great Depression. The economy slipped into economic downturn in February.
” The economy and retail sales have struck the bottom in May and we have a V-shaped very first stage of healing,” said Sung Won Sohn, a company economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “However, it will take quite a long time to return to anywhere near the levels of retail sales and economic activity we enjoyed around the turn of the year.”
Retail sales leapt 17.7%last month, the greatest advance given that the federal government