US Watch and Jewelry Sales Level off in May

(IDEX Online) - The growth in US sales of jewelry and watches levelled off again in May, back to March levels after something of a spike in April. The year-on-year increase for May was 10.5 per cent, almost on a par with the newly-adjusted figure of 10.3 per cent for March. April was 16.2 per cent. These figures are still healthy compared with 2019, for example, when there was negative y-o-y growth for much of the year and a December peak of just 8.3 per cent. There is, however, clearly a decline since the euphoric post-lockdown days of Spring 2021, as the graph below shows. Sentiment in US will doubtless have been dampened by inflation, which hit a 41-year high in May at 8.6 per cent, together with ongoing uncertainties over Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. Sales figures for January to April have been revised down slightly, based on actual through-the-till transactions rather than estimatesIDEX Online subscribers please click here to read the full report.