The U.S. Department of Commerce has released the retail sales report for the month of August. After another consecutive disappointing month in July, retail sales changed their tune and made a strong recovery for August — and the July reading’s revision makes it look better than the initial report indicated.
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Retail sales for the month of August rose by 0.6% to match up perfectly against the Bloomberg estimate of 0.6%. This is up from July, when retail sales were revised to 0.3% from its initial reading of completely flat, and that was on the heels of June’s reading of 0.2%.
The August report showed that the retail sales ex-autos were up by 0.3%, also matching the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 0.3%. The month of July had a retail sales ex-autos revised to 0.3% and June’s reading was 0.4%. The retail sales less autos and gas was up 0.5%, against its estimate of 0.4%. The retail sales less autos and gas in July was revised to 0.3%, after jumping to 0.6% in June.
What stands out here is that as gasoline prices have been dropping, the consumer has more money to spend on other things.
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