Is the US on a Big Diet? Grocery Sales Turn Negative

January 28, 2019 BMO Capital Markets

According to IRI, U.S. grocery industry sales (ex-WMT) declined 1.1% y/y in “January” (four-week period ending 1/13/19) compared to +0.5% in the December period, turning negative for the first time since the Spring of 2017. While we already published that sales were weak in the 2H of December, the 1H of January remained similarly weak.