On Monday, April 24, the Census Bureau issued annual revisions to the retail sales data. The revisions stretch back through 2010 but with negligible differences over most of that time. They are, however, more noticeable starting in 2021. Broadly, the dollar value of retail and food services sales was lower than previously reported. This will mean some downward revisions in the pace of personal consumption expenditures in the GDP numbers. It should not mean significantly slower overall GDP growth for past quarters but it could lower some forecasts for the advance estimate of first quarter GDP for 2023 when these numbers are published on Thursday, April 27 at 8:30 ET.
