Rising inflation fears dampened consumer outlooks in May, with the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment gauge slipping to 67.4 from 77.2 a month earlier. Consumers' one-year inflation outlook jumped to 3.5%, the highest since November, and experts say uncertainty surrounding inflation and interest rates could suppress spending in the coming months.

US retail sales grew 0.4% month over month in April from March, with building and garden supply stores seeing the largest monthly jump at 4.39%, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor. Retail Monitor also found that core sales -- excluding automobiles, gasoline and restaurants -- rose 0.26%. Sales in the first four months of 2024 were up 1.82% from the year-ago period and core sales grew 2.31% in the same period.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the channel of the Patapsco River in Baltimore is expected to be open by the end of the month after crews remove the wreckage of the Key Bridge, which collapsed on March 26 when it was hit by the container ship MV Dali. Buttigieg said supply chains have been affected by the port's closure but that transport firms, shipping companies and port owners have adapted with temporary responses.

Mercedes-Benz's Daimler Truck operations announced plans to debut its autonomous commercial trucks by 2027. Joanna Buttler, in charge of Daimler's global autonomous technology group, said the truck maker will offer "an autonomous vehicle that doesn't sleep, doesn't need to stop, and basically can drive continuously in the Level 4 hub-to-hub mode."

Supply chain managers at small and midsized businesses list inflation as a top concern, followed by the possibility of a recession, according to a report from Software Advice. "Along with these macroeconomic concerns, our recent study finds that supply chain leaders are struggling to hire skilled workers, safeguarding supply chain operations against cyber threats, and increasing technology investments," writes Olivia Montgomery, the author of the report.

Monthly cargo volumes at major US ports are expected to exceed 2 million 20-foot equivalent units through the summer and into early autumn, according to the Global Port Tracker report by NRF and Hackett Associates. May is forecast at 2.06 million TEU, up 10% year over year to tie last October as the highest level since August 2022. "We haven't seen numbers this high for this many months in almost two years," said Jonathan Gold, NRF's vice president for Supply Chain and Customs.

Only 24% of business-to-business leaders are happy with the digital buying experiences offered by their companies, despite 90% saying those experiences are increasingly in demand, per a study by Lucidworks and Google Cloud. Lucidworks' Brian Land offers B2B marketers four tips for improving online buying experiences, including addressing pain points via content and tapping real customers for video testimonials.

Sales managers can future-proof their careers and get the most out of AI tools by focusing their time on productive work rather than transactional work, writes Colleen Stanley, president of SalesLeadership. "The sales leader of the future will work with their team in learning the AI tools that are capable of taking transactional work, busy work or redundant work off their plate," Stanley writes.

Leaders can offer their teams more flexibility in their day -- which research shows they want -- by offering meeting or email-free days, time banking, job sharing and self-established deadlines, writes Julie Winkle Giulioni. "When expectations are clear, employees are free to use their time as they see fit -- just as long as quality work gets done," Winkle Giulioni notes.

US businesses are navigating the challenging landscape of the upcoming presidential election by attempting to remain politically neutral, a stark contrast to four years ago. Corporate leaders are largely refraining from political commentary in all-hands sessions and reevaluating election-related initiatives like get-out-the-vote drives.

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