Retail Sales Make Strong Recovery in August
The U.S. Department of Commerce has released an encouraging retail sales report for the month of August.
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.
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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Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
