US Watch and Jewelry Sales Fall Again During June
August 02, 23
(IDEX Online) - US watch and jewelry sales fell back a little during June, down by 3.5 per cent according to the Department of Commerce.
It follows a small sign of improvement the previous month, when, according to revised figures, sales fell by just 2.0 per cent. By comparison, March and April saw sales drop by 8.8 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively.
Consumers in the US remain hesitant despite slowing inflation. The Federal Reserve didn't increase interest rates during June, but hinted that a couple more hikes this year were pretty much inevitable.
The NRF (National Retail Federation) reported a small increase of 0.4 per cent in overall spending during June compared to May, but noted that consumers were using their cash for household priorities rather than luxury goods.
Foreign sales of Swiss watches in the US, its biggest export market, were up 8.8 per cent to $408m in June, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, a slight slowdown from the 9.8 per cent rise during May. The Department of Commerce revised up May's sales from a 4.8 per cent fall to a 2.2 per cent drop, based on actual through-the-till transactions rather than estimates.
Jewelry sales fell by 3.8 per cent and watch sales fell by 2.2 per cent during June, an average fall of 3.5 per cent.
Assessment
We had a year of post-Covid bounce back and now we're a year and half into post-Ukraine invasion decline, and nine months into almost-interrupted negative growth.