Retail sales in April were up 0.5% compared to the month before and are up 4.9% from a year ago. We’ll dig into the data.

Retail sales in April were up 0.5% compared to the month before and are up 4.9% from a year ago. We’ll dig into the data.

The April retail sales numbers rose in line with expectations, though against a backdrop of Americans receiving extra-large tax refunds due to last year's tax cut legislation.

U.S. consumers spent $757.1 billion on retail and food services in April, a 0.5% increase over March, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.