US Posts 18% Rise in Retail Jewelry Sales in April

In the first four months of 2013, US retail jewelry sales rose by 10.6% and totaled $9.568 billion.

U.S. jewelry store sales in April, the most recent month for which statistics have been published, surged 17.7 percent year on year to $2.406 billion.

Furthermore, the consumer price index (CPI) for jewelry in April slipped 1.2 percent, and has also been lower each month so far this year.

US jewelry store sales have been robust in the first third of this year, rising 10.6 percent to $9.568 billion compared with the same period of last year, according to a report on Rap News.

Initial retail sales figures for May show that department store sales were down again, slipping by 2.1 percent year on year to $14.268 billion. However, advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May, rose 4.3 percent year on year to $421.1 billion. Retail trade sales also rose 4.3%.

Retail monitoring group, the National Retail Federation (NRF), reports that the economy is improving, though slowly, and says there is still a long way to go. Salaries are largely standing still and that is putting a dampener on economic growth.