August retail sales were stronger than the month before, underscoring how resilient U.S. consumers have been despite rising interest rates.
Retail sales rose 0.6 percent in August from a month earlier. Wall Street estimates are for a 0.1% increase. Sales excluding autos and gas rose 0.2 percent, beating estimates of a 0.1 percent decline compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, sales for July increased to 0.5% from a previous increase of 0.7%.
August reportThe Commerce Department release provided a snapshot of consumer spending as economic data came in better than expected despite the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike campaign as the central bank tries to slow inflation.
Nine of the 13 categories highlighted in the release saw an increase from a month ago. Gasoline sales led all categories, rising 5.7% from July as gasoline prices were higher in August.
Non-store retailers, including e-commerce, were unchanged from July, when Amazon’s ( AMZN ) Prime Day and other online sales outperformed the category.
Meanwhile, sales at sporting goods and recreation fell 1.6% from July, while specialty stores fell 1.3%.
August’s retail sales measure will be the last publication before student loan repayments begin to weigh on consumer spending. Retailers at the Goldman Sachs Global Retail Conference earlier this week were uncertain about the overall economic impact but said they would be watching developments closely.
“Student loan repayment is definitely something we’re looking at,” Tractor Supply (TSCO) CFO Kurt Burton said at the conference. We know it. And anything that takes money out of the wallet is very hard on the consumer and takes some of the goods and services they spend on. So I think being very active is one. of “
Josh Shafer is a Yahoo Finance reporter.
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