The Commerce Department reported advance U.S. retail and food services sales increased 0.9% to $677.7B in April, this follows an upwardly revised 1.4% increase for March. Retail sales are up 8.2% year over year, beating March’s 7.3% reading, much of the increase is due to higher prices. This is the fourth consecutive month of increase in retail sales. Total sales for February 2022 through April 2022 were up 10.8% year over year. Much of the increase in April retail sales was attributable to spending on autos and parts (+2.2%) and dining (+2.2%). Offsetting the increase was a 2.7% drop in gasoline sales. Excluding gasoline, retail sales increased 1.3% in April. Miscellaneous stores (+4.0%), nonstore retailers (+2.1%), and electronics & appliances (+1.0%) all saw increases, while spending on sporting goods books and hobbies (-0.5%), food and beverage stores (-0.2%), and homer centers (-0.1%) saw declines. When sales for gas stations and autos are excluded, retail sales increased 1.0%. Core retail sales, a measurement that excludes spending on autos, gasoline, building materials, and food services increased 1.0% and follows an upwardly revised 1.1% in March.

The US Energy Information Administration reported that US commercial crude oil stockpiles decreased by 3.4M barrels to 420.8M barrels (14% below the five-year average) for the week ending May 13th. Crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.9M barrels per day, a decrease of 239K barrels per day as compared to the previous week’s average. Gasoline inventories decreased by 4.8M barrels (8% below the five-year average), and distillate inventories increased by 1.2M barrels (22% below the five-year average). Refineries operated at 91.8% of their operable capacity, as gasoline production increased averaging 9.5M barrels per day. Crude oil imports came in at 6.6M barrels per day, an increase of 299K barrels per day as compared to the previous week. Crude oil imports averaged about 6.3M barrels per day over the last four weeks, 4.7% more than the same period last year. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 2.9M barrels last week.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell 2.4% in April to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.61M, down 5.9% as compared to April 2021. Home sales have now dropped for three consecutive months. Sales of single-family homes fell to an annual rate of 5.12M (-4.8% Y/Y) while existing condo sales dropped to a 620K annual rate (-13.9% Y/Y). Total housing inventory reported in at 1.03M, up 10.8% over March’s inventory (-10.4% Y/Y). Properties typically remained on the market for 17 days, the same reading as both March 2022 and April 2021. Eighty-eight percent of the homes sold in April 2022 were on the market for less than a month. The median sales price increased to $391,200 (+14.8% Y/Y). The median existing single-family home price was $397,600 in March (+14.8% Y/Y) while existing condo price was $340,000 (+13.1% Y/Y). Regionally the Northeast (+1.5%) and Midwest (+3.1%) saw sales increases, while existing-home sales dipped in the West (-5.8%) and the South (-4.6%).