RAPAPORT... U.S. jewelry and watch sales across all channels fell in June, declining 1.5 percent year on year to $5.2 billion as estimated from preliminary government figures. According to Rapaport News calculations, jewelry sales declined 1.3 percent, to $4.6 billion, while sales of watches slid 3.1 percent to $606.9 million during the month.
The new, revised government estimates by the Bureau of Economic Analysis show that sales also declined in May, despite the slight growth previously reported. As a result, it appears monthly declines in jewelry and watch sales have continued unabated since October 2014.
Jewelry and watch sales for the first six months of the year have declined 0.9 percent year on year to $32.7 billion, according to Rapaport News estimates. Jewelry sales fell 0.9 percent to $28.9 billion, and watch sales contracted 4.3 percent to $4 billion.
Meanwhile, sales specifically from U.S. specialty jewelry stores in the first five months of the year registered a more severe decline, dropping 4.6 percent from the comparable year-ago period to $11.2 billion. Totals for the month of June are scheduled for release on August 13, 2015.
Consumer spending perked up a bit across the retail and food sector -- excluding motor vehicles and auto parts -- as sales grew 0.6 percent to $349.3 billion. Retail trade sales improved 1.1 percent. Nonstore retail sales rose 4.9 percent to $37.3 billion. Advanced sales estimates for June at U.S. department stores continued to trend down, dropping 2.3 percent year on year to $12.6 billion.
Lindsey M. Piegza, the chief economist for Stifel, said that personal consumer spending accounted for two percent of the 2.3% increase in U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter. However, if underlying fundamentals do not change, consumer spending will slow down..
“At this point, business development and expansion remains markedly weak,” Piegza said. “Going forward, without widespread improvement in business activity, there is very little to suggest stability, let alone momentum in the economy, as we look further into the second half of the year.”
This story has been updated to reflect revisions made by the U.S. Department of Commerce to pre-2015 jewelry sales data.
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