How often is United States Retail Sales updated?

Retail Sales for United States is released on a monthly schedule by Federal Reserve (or the relevant national statistics agency). FXMacroData ingests each new value within seconds of the official publication and exposes the exact announcement timestamp on every record.

What unit is Retail Sales reported in?

The series is published in %YoY. The exact unit is also returned on every API response under the indicator metadata.

Where does FXMacroData source United States Retail Sales data?

Data is fetched directly from Federal Reserve or the official national statistics publication for United States. The source URL is preserved on every announcement record so downstream consumers can trace the value back to its primary release.

How do I query Retail Sales for United States via the API?

Issue a GET request to /api/v1/announcements/usd/retail_sales?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY. The response contains a chronological list of observations with values, release dates, and announcement timestamps. USD announcement data is public; other currencies require a Professional API key.

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Retail Sales (USD)

Measures change in the total value of sales at the retail level.

Latest reading: 0.3 %YoY · Last updated: 2016-05-31 · Source: FRED (Census)

Category: Economy

API Endpoint

/api/v1/announcements/usd/retail_sales

Use the production OpenAPI schema for the authoritative REST route metadata.

https://fxmacrodata.com/api/openapi.json

Browse the full endpoint reference

Compare Retail Sales across all supported currencies →

Optional Indicator Availability (USD)

Optional indicators use per-currency fetcher capability checks and may be temporarily hidden while source coverage is being remediated.

foreign_reserves

Available

cb_assets

Available

inflation_mom

Available

About Retail Sales (USD)

Retail sales for United States measures the total receipts at retail stores, capturing consumer spending on goods. It is a high-frequency proxy for consumer demand and GDP growth.

Why FX traders watch it

Consumer spending accounts for 60–70% of GDP in most developed economies. Strong retail sales indicate healthy household finances and tend to support the usd by reducing the probability of rate cuts.

How to interpret the data

A beat on retail sales is usd-positive and may delay rate cuts. A sustained decline in retail sales signals consumer stress, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to ease, weakening the usd.

Historical Retail Sales (USD)

Source: FRED (Census) · Monthly · %YoY

Data provided by FXMacroData via the /api/v1/announcements/usd/retail_sales endpoint. For access, see pricing.

Data Source

Primary Source

FRED (Census)

Official Series ID

RSAFS

External Link

View Official Data Page

Data Format and Properties

Data Frequency

Monthly

Unit of Measure

%YoY

JSON Response Structure

The endpoint returns a chronological list of observations in JSON format.

{
    "currency": "USD",
    "indicator": "retail_sales",
    "has_official_forecast": false,
    "start_date": "2023-01-01",
    "end_date": "2023-12-31",
    "data": [
        {
            "date": "2024-07-01",
            "val": 4.2,
            "announcement_datetime": 1722456000
        }
    ]
}

Request Parameters & Usage

Parameter	Required	Format	Description
`start_date`	NO	`YYYY-MM-DD`	Optional lower bound for the requested history.
`end_date`	NO	`YYYY-MM-DD`	Optional upper bound. Defaults to the current date.
`api_key`	CONDITIONAL	`string`	Required for non-USD announcement requests. USD announcement requests are public without an API key.

Example Usage

To retrieve Retail Sales data for USD from 2023:

GET https://fxmacrodata.com/api/v1/announcements/usd/retail_sales?start_date=2023-01-01&end_date=2023-12-31

Frequently Asked Questions

How often is United States Retail Sales updated?: Retail Sales for United States is released on a monthly schedule by Federal Reserve (or the relevant national statistics agency). FXMacroData ingests each new value within seconds of the official publication and exposes the exact announcement timestamp on every record.
What unit is Retail Sales reported in?: The series is published in %YoY. The exact unit is also returned on every API response under the indicator metadata.
Where does FXMacroData source United States Retail Sales data?: Data is fetched directly from Federal Reserve or the official national statistics publication for United States. The source URL is preserved on every announcement record so downstream consumers can trace the value back to its primary release.
How do I query Retail Sales for United States via the API?: Issue a GET request to /api/v1/announcements/usd/retail_sales?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY. The response contains a chronological list of observations with values, release dates, and announcement timestamps. USD announcement data is public; other currencies require a Professional API key.