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MAGA: protecting the homeland from Canadian bookworms

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Economics

Retail sales May 2025:

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Shoppers try on shoes at a Footlocker store in New York City, U.S., May 16, 2025.

Jeenah Moon | Reuters

Consumers spending pulled back sharply in May, weighed by declining gas sales and a looming unease over where the economy is headed, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Retail sales declined 0.9%, even more than the 0.6% drop expected from the Dow Jones consensus, according to numbers adjusted for seasonality but not inflation. The decline followed a 0.1% loss in April and came at a time of unease over tariffs and geopolitical tensions.

Excluding autos, sales fell 0.3%, also worse than the estimate for a gain of 0.1%.

However, excluding a series of items such as auto dealers, building materials suppliers, gas stations and others, sales increased 0.4%. That reading, known as the control group, is what the department uses when calculating gross domestic product.

Building materials and garden stores saw sales fall 2.7%, while sliding energy prices pushed gasoline station receipts down 2%. Motor vehicles and parts retailers were off 3.5%, while bars and restaurants saw sales declined 0.9%.

On the plus side, miscellaneous retailers gained 2.9% while online sales rose 0.9% and furniture stores increased sales by 1.2%.

Stock market futures held negative after the release while Treasury yields also fell.

The pullback in retail sales came despite surveys showing that consumer sentiment actually increased in May, though compared to levels that had been falling through the year. The ongoing trade war ignited by President Donald Trump’s tariffs had dented consumer and business optimism, though an easing in some of the rhetoric amid a 90-day negotiating period has led to better readings.

GDP declined at a 0.2% annualized pace in the first quarter but is projected to rebound. Second-quarter growth heading into the retail sales release was pegged at 3.8%, according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow tracker of rolling data. The gauge will be updated later Tuesday.

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Economics

Protests against a regal presidency have been notably peaceful

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There is no need to send in the troops

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Economics

Gavin Newsom is ready for his close-up

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NORMALLY, GAVIN NEWSOM is loose. The Democratic governor of California talks with a staccato cadence, often flitting from one incomplete thought to the next. When he talks to journalists or asks a guest on his podcast a meandering question, he tends to use a lot of meaningless filler words: “in the context of” is a frequent Newsomism. But on June 10th he was clear and direct. “This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation,” he said during a televised address after President Donald Trump deployed nearly 5,000 troops to Los Angeles to quell protests over immigration raids. “We do not want our streets militarised by our own armed forces. Not in LA. Not in California. Not anywhere.”

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