U.S. consumers are spending again after a slow start to the year. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Friday that in June some retail businesses have posted solid year-over-year gains, led by nonstore retailers (e-commerce) up 14.2%. Low gasoline prices continue to plague gas station sales, down 9.6% over the past 12 months. Overall sales growth was sharply higher than expected.
According to the Census Bureau, seasonally adjusted sales rose by 0.6% to $457 billion, compared with May 2016 sales of $454.4 billion, and rose 2.7% year over year. Total sales for the three-month period of April through June 2016 were up 2.6% from a year ago.
Analysts were expecting an overall month-over-month increase of 0.1% and an increase of 0.5% excluding autos and auto parts. Excluding motor vehicle and parts sales, month-over-month sales rose 0.7% and rose 3.2% year over year. The consensus estimates called for a month-over-month increase of 0.5%.
Gasoline station sales rose 1.2% month-over-month and are down 9.6% year over year, almost entirely due to lower gasoline prices.
The big year-over-year jump in nonstore retail sales may be particularly good news for online behemoth Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), which is scheduled to report second-quarter results on July 28.
Other retailers poised to benefit from increased consumer spending include home improvement stores, Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW). The June Census Bureau report showed sales up 7.6% year over year for home and garden stores.
Sales were stronger across a broad range of products. Automobile sales rose 0.1% in June compared with May, and they are up 1.2% compared with June 2015. Those figures reflect the June sales reports from the automakers that came out earlier this month.
Electronics stores posted flat sales month over month and a year-over-year decline of 4.7% in sales. Department stores posted a month-over-month sales increase of 0.7% and a year-over-year decline of 3.7%.
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