Retail Sales: Consumer Spending Up for Fourth Straight Month According to the Census Bureau's Advance Retail Sales Report, consumer spending climbed for the fourth straight month in May. Headline sales rose 0.9%, almost double the projected 0.5% growth and marking an acceleration from April's 0.4% rise. Key Takeaways For an inflation-adjusted perspective on retail sales, take a look at our Real Retail Sales commentary. Here is the introduction from today's report: Advance Estimates of U.S. Retail and Food S ...