Consumer spending held up even better than expected in July as inflation pressures showed more signs of easing, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Advanced retail sales accelerated 1% on the month, according to numbers that are adjusted for seasonality but not inflation. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a 0.3% increase. June sales were revised to a decline of 0.2% after initially being reported as flat.
Excluding auto-related items, sales increased 0.4%, also better than the 0.1% forecast.
There was also good news on the labor market front: Initial unemployment benefit claims for the week ending Aug. 10 totaled 227,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week and lower than the estimate for 235,000.
Gains in sales were propelled by increases at motor vehicles and parts dealers (3.6%), electronics and appliance stores (1.6%) and food and beverage outlets (0.9%). Miscellaneous retailers saw a plunge of 2.5% while gas stations saw receipts climb just 0.1% and clothing stores were down 0.1%.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/15/retail-sales-july-2024-.html
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